Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
11/20/2015
The Obama administration has not exhausted its options to implement policies to combat climate change and has significant remaining legal authority on a number of fronts, according to a new report published this week by green group Friends of the Earth.
The organization asserted that while the administration has taken significant steps they do not add up to the nation’s “fair share” of emissions reductions. “When measured against the United States’ historic responsibility, justice and the gravity of the problem, these actions are a far cry from what is needed from the United States. As part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change process, President Obama has only pledged to reduce U.S. emissions by 12 percent below 1990 levels by 2025. This commitment is nowhere close to being equitable; in fact it is just 20 percent of what justice and historic responsibility demand from the United States. While Congress has been a significant barrier to climate action, there is more that President Obama can do on his own,” the report says.
The group laid out a number of policy recommendations, grounded in existing executive authority, that the administration has yet to capitalize on. “These actions provide significant mitigation potential and will be necessary for the United States to meet its fair share of emission reductions. These are all actions that President Obama can and should initiate before leaving office in 2017,” the report says.
The Environmental Protection Agency recently promulgated a rule, the Clean Power Plan, under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act. The plan requires states to develop action plans to meet federally set, state-specific carbon emissions reduction goals. However, the EPA may have missed an opportunity to reach for greater reductions in a different section of the Clean Air Act, according to the report.
“This overlooked section is 115, and it creates a clear duty for the EPA to take action where U.S. emissions put people in other countries at risk. This section is not limited in scope because it specifically states that it applies to ‘any air pollutant or pollutants,’ meaning greenhouse gases would clearly qualify,” the report says, suggesting the EPA take advantage of this little-used section of the Clean Air Act.
The report also suggests the administration prohibit all new leases for fossil fuel exploration and development on public lands and waters. “Leasing publicly-owned coal, oil and natural gas to private corporations has resulted in billions of tons of carbon pollution and degraded millions of acres of public land and ocean. By keeping these fossil fuels in the ground, the Obama administration could set an important precedent in the global fight to combat climate disruption while also safeguarding the nation’s natural heritage,” Friends of the Earth said. The administration failed to respond to requests for comment this week.
