July 20, 2022 Mary B. Powers and Debra K. Rubin KEYWORDS Biden administration / climate change / offshore wind construction Order Reprints No Comments .cap { font-size: .85em; font-family: ariel, helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 35px; color: #595959; }

With extreme heat now creating weather emergencies in much of the country, as well as globally, and with his expansive climate change action agenda derailed in Congress, President Joe Biden announced new executive actions that include adding billions to a federal resilient infrastructure fund, beefing up U.S. Labor Dept. workplace heat protections and expediting wind energy construction in the Gulf of Mexico and southeast Atlantic Ocean.

Biden referred to the situation he said now affects 100 million Americas as an “emergency” and a “clear and present danger,” but he did not invoke presidential authority in the June 20 announcement to declare a formal climate emergency that would enable use of added funding sources or ordered actions—as a number of climate change activists had hoped.

Biden announced the initial actions at the now-closed Brayton Point coal-fired power plant in Somerset, Mass., which is the site of a planned cable manufacturing plant that will enable three utility-scale offshore wind projects set to be built off New England to connect to onshore power grids.

Italy-based Prysmian Group will manufacture 248 miles of heavy-duty cables at the plant, which the firm said would have final investment of $300 million and create 250 union jobs.

“We’re going to build a different future,” Biden said, noting that his climate initiatives would be expanded "in coming weeks" to align government policy with “formal official government actions through the appropriate proclamations, executive orders and regulatory power that a president possesses,” including streamlining federal permitting for projects and additional federal resources.

If Biden were to declare a climate emergency. it would allow him to redirect federal funding into climate emergency programs.

White House Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy told reporters that Biden is not “shying away” from treating climate as an emergency.

For now, Biden announced that funding would double this year—to $2.3 billion—for FEMA’s building resilient infrastructure and communities program, known as BRIC, which assists communities to prepare in advance for heat waves, drought, wildfires, floods, hurricanes and other climate-linked hazards.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Dept. also issued guidance to help states and tribes expand how they respond to extreme heat and it released $385 million to support vulnerable communities through the LIHEAP program.

The guidance provides a range of flexible options including funding for cooling assistance, community cooling centers and providing air conditioners and other equipment to vulnerable individuals, the White House said.

The U.S. Labor Dept. also has conducted 564 heat-related inspections in 43 states under its expanded program to protect workers from heat illnesses and injuries, with the agency also now engaged in rulemaking for the first federal workplace standard to protect workers from extreme heat, he said.

Offshore Wind Moves South and West

As part of the the administration's clean energy push, the U.S. Interior Dept. identified the first two potential wind energy areas for development in the Gulf of Mexico, including one about 24 miles off the coast of Galveston, Texas and another about 56 miles off the coast of Lake Charles, La.

The areas are a 700,000-acre subset of the original 30-million acres previously announced in October 2021 that extended from the west coast of Florida to the east coast of Texas (see map below).  

The Biden administration has specifically outlined offshore wind energy development areas in the Gulf of Mexico off Texas and Louisiana Map: U.S. Interior Dept./ BOEM

The wind energy areas were reduced to avoid potential impacts to other ocean uses and resources, such as commercial and recreational fishing, maritime navigation, military activities, marine protected species, avian species and existing infrastructure, Interior said.

The draft area off the coast of Galveston contains 546,654 acres and has the potential to power 2.3 million homes with clean wind energy, the agency said. The area off the coast of Lake Charles includes 188,023 acres with the potential to power 799,000 homes.

The public can comment on the draft wind energy areas for 30 days beginning July 20.

Biden also directed Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland to advance wind energy development off Florida’s Gulf Coast and in federal waters in the mid and southern Atlantic coast, an area in which former President Donald Trump had banned oil and gas development as well as wind energy.

The House of Representatives on July 14 passed an amendment to defense spending legislation that would end the Trump-era moratorium on offshore wind development off the coast of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

Specifically, it restores Interior's authority to hold offshore wind lease sales in federal waters off the coast of those states, but left in place a leasing moratorium in the eastern Gulf of Mexico at the request of the U.S. Defense Dept. The bill now heads to the Senate, which in a compromise bill expected by year end, could vote not to follow the House action ending the offshore wind moratorium.

The American Council on Renewable Energy said Biden’s executive actions are a meaningful step to address the climate emergency, “but truly tackling the worst impacts of climate change” will require legislation action.  “We urge Congress to not miss the opportunity to enact a long-term, stable, and predictable clean energy tax platform this year that is capable of effectively addressing the climate crisis,” it said.

Jason Walsh, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance said Congress needs to pass a budget reconciliation package with the “manufacturing and clean energy tax credits and strong labor and domestic sourcing standards ... to help grow critical clean energy supply chains.”