Donald Trump's victory in 2024 elections A race against time started by President Biden for his security environmental heritage During his remaining days as President.
But the rapid pace of his administration's climate-related announcements may no longer make sense once Trump is inaugurated and the Republican-led Congress is seated in January. Mr. Biden’s most recent climate initiatives are sure to be short-lived, mostly because of an obscure law that comes into effect every four years.
that law, Congressional Review ActAllows Congress to rescind any regulation issued by a federal agency in the preceding 60 legislative days with a simple majority vote in the House and Senate and the President's signature.
Since Election Day, the Biden administration has announced final rules including one to dramatically curb methane emissions and another to ban all future coal mining leases on federal lands. Both rules are expected to be rolled back soon after Trump takes office.
Methane is the second most abundant greenhouse gasafter carbon dioxide, but it traps heat in the atmosphere But 28 times The Environmental Protection Agency has looked at carbon dioxide rates. On the other hand, methane doesn't last as long in the atmosphere as CO2, so cutting methane emissions could have a much quicker, more dramatic impact on reducing greenhouse gases. Human sources of methane emissions include oil and gas systems, landfills, wastewater treatment facilities, and many other industrial processes.
On November 12, the Biden administration announced a final rule that would charge oil and natural gas companies heavy duty If they exceed methane emission limits. This is an effort to encourage these companies to improve their processes to reduce methane leakage.
The EPA estimates that enforcing the methane emissions rule would be equivalent to taking approximately 8 million gas-powered cars off the road for a year.
The Biden administration also recently blocked all new coal mining leases on public lands, which would affect new leases in Wyoming and Montana, the source of 40% of the nation's coal. The Associated Press Government analyzes point to ending federal leasing that would reduce emissions by the equivalent of 293 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, which is equivalent to eliminating emissions from about 63 million gas-powered cars.
Existing leases will still allow mining to continue in the area for decades. But Coal The situation has been weakening in recent years, as the US has become increasingly dependent on cheap natural gas and renewable energy sources – and less on coal.
Republican politicians in Wyoming and Montana condemned the ban, and GOP Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming said in a statement that he stands ready to work with Trump to reverse the ban and other regulations.
In Trump's view, fears about climate change are overblown untimelyHe has called it “cheating” in the past. He opposes clean energy and EV subsidies and has said the US needs to “drill, baby drill” – that is, increase conventional oil and gas production to lower energy prices for Americans. This should come as no surprise – in his first term, as soon as he took office, he struck back 100 environmental rules Enacted by President Obama.
During his presidential campaign, Trump promised business-friendly policies and claimed to halve energy costs in a year by approving new drilling and reducing red tape.
Some experts doubt that will happen.
“There is no universe in which federal government decisions could cause that degree of reaction from markets,” Jonathan Elkind, senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, told CBS News. “Oil markets, they're very large, they're very global, and the president of the United States doesn't have the ability to exert that strong an influence.”
However, there are still some Biden climate policies Which is likely to be out of Trump's reach.
Billions of dollars were set aside in clean energy investments 2022 climate lawThe Most important climate change laws ever signed. But the key to securing that funding is to make sure the money is spent, or allocated, before Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.
Once the grant money is spent, Trump and the Republicans are highly unlikely to be able to get it back.
“Legally, any tied funds are protected,” said Christina DeConcini, director of government affairs at the World Resources Institute. “If you listen to officials of the incoming administration, they are saying they are going to move forward after this. I don't think they would have any legal leg to stand on if forced to do so.”
The EPA says it has learned over the years that the best way to protect climate policy is to tie a regulation directly to legislation and funding.
In total, about $643.1 billion, or more than 93% of the available funding, has been paid out, according to a White House official. Billions remain to be spent under the climate legislation in the next fiscal year, and some Republicans may want to keep climate spending in their districts and states.
Zylan Hoover, senior advisor for EPA implementation, told CBS News that trying to withdraw the grant money would mean “potentially taking away the benefits to communities in terms of public health protections as well as economic benefits.”
And these grants are far from even the most expensive line-item of climate legislation. The Energy Department announced nearly $18 million for projects that boost recycling programs, start a residential energy efficiency rebate program and expand bike lanes and pedestrian pathways, among other projects. The Agriculture Department injected $256 million into the America's Rural Energy Program to expand the use of wind, solar, geothermal and small hydroelectric energy.
These types of projects and grants are likely to remain intact until Trump's second term.
Contributed to this report.