Washington, D.C. – In response to President Biden’s climate speech in Massachusetts, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) and LCV’s state affiliate in Massachusetts, the Environmental League of Massachusetts (ELM), issued the following statements:

“With our children’s future hanging in the balance, we are counting on President Biden and his administration to use every ounce of their authority to act on climate, advance environmental justice, create good jobs, and lower costs as quickly as possible,” said Tiernan Sittenfeld, SVP of Government Affairs for LCV. “We couldn’t agree more that the climate crisis is an emergency – and the President’s appearance at a former coal plant that will soon be a manufacturing facility for offshore wind components is proof that a clean energy future is within reach – we must seize this opportunity. As dangerous, record breaking heat blankets the U.S. and the world, we need our leaders to do everything in their power to protect people and the planet. Action on climate can’t wait.”  

“President Biden’s visit to the Commonwealth today emphasizes the crucial role that Massachusetts and communities like Somerset must play in stepping up to solve the climate crisis,” said Casey Bowers, Executive Director of the Environmental League of Massachusetts Action Fund. “We must act at every level of government to meet the scale and urgency of climate change. The extreme heat punishing residents across the United States, in Europe, and in the UK underscores the need to transition away from fossil fuels to a reliable, affordable, renewable energy future.”

Here are some of the important steps LCV is calling on the Biden administration to take:

• Declare Climate National Emergency in order to:
  • Supercharge Defense Production Act to spur clean energy manufacturing and deployment at public buildings and spaces
  • Redirect and focus grants, loans, and research and development funding across all departments and agencies to focus on clean energy solutions and environmental justice communities
• Use economic power to curb climate risk: requiring companies disclose climate risks, direct federal procurement to Buy Clean
• Cut toxic and climate pollution to protect all communities and advance environmental justice
  • Expedite rules to require 100% of new cars and buses be tailpipe pollution free by 2035 and all trucks by 2040 and produced with rigorous labor standards
  • Set strong climate and clean air, water, and land standards for power plants 
  • Require hard to decarbonize industries to use carbon capture and sequestration and other pollution-reducing technologies 
  • Cut methane pollution from the oil and gas industry 65% by 2025 and 90% by 2030
  • Set strong clean air standards for soot and smog to protect public health
• No new fossil fuel leasing on public lands and waters, oversee a swift wind-down of production on existing fossil fuel leases, and reject new fossil fuel infrastructure projects like ConocoPhillips’ Willow Project, LNG export infrastructure, and new pipelines
• Rapidly expand responsible clean energy deployment on appropriate public lands and waters
• Accelerate efforts to protect 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030, including designating new national monuments and issuing rules to protect mature and old-growth forests from logging and other threats

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