In 2020, the EPA awarded CLF a DERA grant to partner with New York Cruise Lines, Inc. Grant recipient shares how this $1.8 million grant makes a difference for the community, the environment, and the cruise industry.
Bradley Campbell, president of the Conservation Law Foundation, said Baker was “reciting some of the hackneyed, false choices about adverse impacts to the economy or having to choose between addressing climate and having a sound economy when in fact, New England’s future economy depends on addressing climate change.”
Biden’s flurry of executive orders addressing climate change, conservation, and environmental justice has us optimistic. Now we must ensure his administration follows through and turns these orders into meaningful and actionable policy.
“Without strong action now, the climate crisis will devastate our communities, amplify injustice, and destroy ecosystems essential to human survival,” said CLF President Bradley Campbell. “President Biden is ushering in a new era for climate and environmental justice by prioritizing the needs of communities that have long borne the brunt of pollution and poor health. Conserving 30 percent of our lands and ocean will also allow thriving ecosystems to protect human and natural communities from climate changes already on the way. Today’s announcements are a welcome break from four years of all-out assaults on our environment.”
Advocates cheered when President Biden reinstated the Obama-era flood protection standard among his first acts in office. The Biden administration is sending a clear signal that building according to climate patterns of the past is no longer acceptable – we must acknowledge and address increasingly frequent and extreme flooding caused by climate change. Reinstating the federal standard is a critical first step for increasing our national infrastructure’s climate resilience – one that signals the urgent need for action here at home.
Cities with aggressive climate standards are running into roadblocks. Achieving these goals will require strong building energy codes and ending the use of fossil fuels in buildings and homes. We’re starting to see that neither the natural gas utilities nor the real estate industry will sit by quietly as cities and states enforce stronger building codes and ban natural gas infrastructure in new construction.
Maine has finalized its Climate Action Plan. Now, the work to implement the goals outlined in the plan and get Maine on track to slash emissions before 2030, begins.
When President Joe Biden formally announced his administration’s climate team this month, you could almost hear the collective sigh of relief from people not just in our country but around the globe. Biden’s nominees will be charged with implementing his “ambitious plan to address the existential threat of our time: climate change.”
“President Biden’s decision to rejoin the Paris Agreement rights an egregious wrong and will require bold U.S. leadership to make up for four years of climate denial,” said CLF President Bradley Campbell. “The only way we’re going to protect our communities, economy, and homes from the climate crisis is by leading internationally. President Biden must translate his campaign commitments into far more than the modest measures the U.S. put on the table when the Paris agreement was struck.”
“The court saw right through the Trump Administration’s naked attempt to throw a lifeline to dirty outmoded coal plants,” said CLF President Bradley Campbell. “Decimating critical emissions standards would have resulted in the deaths of thousands of Americans by the EPA’s own estimates. It’s fitting that an administration solely focused on destructive environmental rollbacks has been handed a resounding defeat on its last day in office.”
