The Biden Administration

Bodine Warns Biden Against ‘Overreach’ On Climate Rules, Enforcement

EPA enforcement chief Susan Bodine is warning the incoming Biden administration against “overreach” on climate change or enforcement more generally, predicting that federal courts and voters will punish any attempt to “radically change the direction of EPA” such as forcing a transition from gas-powered vehicles to electric cars. During a Nov. 9 panel discussion on EPA’s future hosted by the conservative nonprofit Federalist Society as part of its National Lawyers Convention, Bodine said the Nov. 3 election results do not...

WRI Floats Ambitious 2030 GHG Target For Rejoining Paris Climate Deal

The incoming Biden administration should embrace a target of cutting greenhouse gases 45 to 50 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 when it rejoins the Paris Agreement on climate change next year, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI), which adds that such a goal is achievable even with a divided Congress. “We believe that a bold [commitment] would be good for citizens, it would be good for competitiveness, it would be good for jobs,” WRI President Andrew Steer said...

Chamber Touts Senate Highway, Climate Plan In Call For Bipartisan Action

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is urging the incoming Biden administration and Congress to work on bipartisan proposals in a push the group says defies conventional wisdom that major legislation cannot get passed next year, citing a Senate plan for highway upgrades and climate resiliency investments as an example for renewed collaboration. “That's why we believe that the first order of business for the new Congress and the new administration is a quality infrastructure program that is not just the...

Biden Expected To Quickly Pivot To Sweeping Climate Regulatory Agenda

President-elect Joe Biden’s administration is widely expected to quickly pursue a sweeping climate-focused agenda, according to multiple experts, including new regulations that may be more durable than Obama-era measures, while also taking major “Day One” steps on climate via executive actions. The former vice president lent credence to such expectations when his transition team added language to its website Nov. 9 listing climate change and environmental justice as among his top priorities. “Our nation is grappling with a pandemic, an...

Quoted: Biden’s election victory draws praise, mixed GOP response

President-elect Joe Biden’s defeat of President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election is drawing praise from a host of environmental groups who are urging him to advance a sweeping agenda to curb climate change and pollution, offers of support from some industry organizations, and a mixed response from the GOP with limited support for Biden. Democrats appear poised to retain control of the House with a reduced majority, while the balance of the power in the Senate hinges on...

Amid Calls For Major Climate Steps, Biden May Get Only Modest Hill Wins

Investments and incentives to address climate change are the most plausible near-term legislative agenda items for the incoming Biden administration, multiple observers say, though environmentalists and others will continue to press for mandatory policies, including carbon pricing, to reduce greenhouse gases. The appraisals come amid decent odds that Republicans will maintain control of the Senate and could thus thwart more sweeping climate legislation -- though control of the chamber is poised to come down to a pair of runoff elections...

Despite Biden Win, Questions Remain On Prospects For Ambitious Environmental Agenda

President-elect Biden’s ability to successfully implement his sweeping environmental and climate agenda remains clouded in uncertainty in light of the GOP’s likely continued control of the Senate. Multiple news networks on Nov. 7 called the election for Biden, though Trump has not conceded and is vowing to challenge the results. “I am honored and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice President-elect Harris,” the former vice president said in a statement. Since the...

EPA Staff, Others Brace For Possible Post-Election Staffing Shuffles

EPA staff and other observers are bracing for potential personnel moves by Trump administration officials in the coming weeks amid a possible transition to a Biden administration, including last-minute reorganizations or staffing shuffles based on a recent executive order (EO) from President Donald Trump. The concerns come amid what is expected to be a crowded agenda for the agency in the coming months, as Trump officials aim to lock in deregulatory approaches for a range of policies. While the results...

Ex-CEQ Official Boling Cites ‘Active Debate’ On NEPA Rule Under Biden

Ted Boling -- who recently departed the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) where he helped develop a dramatic rewrite of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing rules -- is expecting an “active debate” about what a potential Biden administration would do with the controversial rulemaking. Boling, who joined the law firm Perkins Coie on Oct. 1 to focus on development and infrastructure, tells Inside EPA in an exclusive Oct. 29 interview that there are multiple potential scenarios...

Top Officials Eyed For EPA, Environment Jobs Under A Biden Administration

A host of current and former top Democratic officials are reportedly in the running for key environmental positions in a potential Biden administration, including for EPA administrator, key Cabinet positions at the Interior and Energy departments, as well as personnel who could fill newly created climate and environment offices. According to Plurus Strategies, a Democratic lobbying firm which says it has “longstanding ties to Vice President [Joe] Biden, his campaign staff, members of the transition team and a great many...

Nichols Says CARB’s Vehicle GHG Deals Can Be Template For U.S. Rules

California air board chief Mary Nichols, who says she would accept an offer to be EPA administrator under a potential Biden administration, believes the state’s recently finalized voluntary “framework” deals with five automakers on reducing greenhouse gases should serve as a template for national model year 2022-26 rules. “First of all, I think everyone has agreed that the California framework is an interim approach. It only goes to 2026, obviously,” she says in an exclusive Oct. 26 interview with Inside...

CARB’s Nichols Would Accept EPA Administrator Nomination Under Biden

California air board chief Mary Nichols says she would accept the job of EPA administrator if offered the post under a Biden administration, and believes her experience with pioneering climate change and air programs in the Golden State could shape future national policies, especially if Democrats take control of Congress after the Nov. 3 elections. Nichols in an exclusive Oct. 26 interview with Inside EPA says she has been “approached by people who say ‘Look, you’re the right person...

Nichols Issues CARB Equity Plan Amid Talk Of Role As Biden EPA Chief

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is advancing a plan to address alleged racial inequities in its internal operations and broader policies, a plan overseen by the board’s long-time Chairwoman Mary Nichols who is set to retire in December but said to be under consideration to head a potential Biden EPA that would prioritize equity in its decisions. Some observers suggest that the Black employees’ complaints against CARB management and other staff members could affect how Nichols is considered for...

Biden Administration Might Spur Bid For Statutory Change To CWA’s Scope

If Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden defeats President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election, supporters of stronger Clean Water Act (CWA) protections may ask Congress to revise the law to clarify its scope, although experts say the success of such an effort will depend on whether Democrats win a clear majority in the House and Senate. A Biden administration would likely move to quickly repeal the Trump administration’s waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, which narrowed the scope...

UCS urges workforce-focused agenda for Biden EPA

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is laying out an aggressive agenda for a potential Biden EPA that would focus on reversing the “hollowing out” of the agency’s workforce through new overtures to current and former staff, as well as reversing the Trump administration’s highest profile regulatory work. UCS recently released a plan for EPA to “establish and restore the principles of scientific integrity, as well as repair and rebuild its scientific capacity,” as part of a broader call for...

Amid Talk Of EPA Post, CARB’s Nichols Seen Prioritizing Climate, Vehicles

Amid reports that Mary Nichols, the long-time chief of the California air board, has the inside track to be EPA administrator under a Biden administration, sources say she would bring decades of experience to a push to aggressively battle climate change and reduce transportation air pollution while reversing Trump-era rollbacks. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden “does have a big climate plan, so I'm sure that would be a priority,” says one California-based environmentalist. “Depending on who controls the Senate, Democrats...

EVs, Equity Might Be Key For Major Reshaping Of Environmental Policies

Top former EPA officials say that the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) and growing demands for environmental justice (EJ) might be key to a major reshaping of environmental policies in the coming years, though they add that significant work remains to be done on both fronts. A “second green wave” of public interest in environmental issues akin to the activism of the 1970 Earth Day is looming, said former George W. Bush EPA enforcement chief Granta Nakayama during an Oct...

Biden May Pursue ‘All Of The Above’ Strategy For Environmental Agenda

If Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden wins the Nov. 3 election, observers say his administration is likely to pursue an “all of the above” approach to implementing environmental policy goals, starting with executive actions on climate change and other issues followed by more-complex rulemaking and legislation. And the former vice president’s campaign has signaled that environmental and energy initiatives are expected to be tied to rebuilding the economy following the coronavirus pandemic, such as clean energy funding. But the scope...

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