What it would mean for Biden to declare a national climate emergency

In the wake of Sen. Joe Manchin’s announcement that he won’t vote for a bill addressing climate change unless inflation slows next month, climate leaders are calling for President Biden to declare climate change a national emergency — and it appears that the White House is seriously considering the move.

A formal declaration would open up new possibilities for unilateral action by the executive branch to combat climate change, including halting U.S. exports of crude oil and halting offshore drilling. Biden could even redirect military funding to the construction of renewable energy projects — much as former President Donald Trump diverted more than $18 billion in Pentagon funding to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico — and impose trade penalties on countries that permit deforestation, such as the destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.

But such a creative use of the relevant federal law would also undoubtedly trigger lawsuits from fossil fuel companies and Republicans.

On Monday evening, Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., held a press conference to ask Biden to explore a range of actions to reduce climate pollution. Many of these, such as using the Defense Production Act to build up domestic clean energy manufacturing capacity, are extensions and expansions of moves Biden has already begun to make.

“There is probably nothing more important for our nation and for our world than for the United States to drive a bold, energetic transition in its energy economy from fossil fuels to renewable energy,” Merkley said.

Amid record-breaking heat waves in the Western U.S. and in Europe, Merkley argued that climate change is no longer a future threat but an already unfolding disaster.

“My state is in crisis,” he said. “We have massive droughts that are destroying our farmers. It’s affecting our forests. We have the red zone where the pine beetles are killing the pine trees. We have the forest fires … and we have a huge impact on our fishing, both in our streams and offshore.”

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The most dramatic option that Merkley wants Biden to take is to declare a national emergency on climate. Later that evening, the Washington Post reported that the White House is indeed considering doing so.

“The president made clear that if the Senate doesn’t act to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen our domestic clean energy industry, he will,” a White House official said in a statement. “We are considering all options, and no decision has been made.”

Speculation that the president would soon declare a climate emergency increased when it was announced that he will visit the Brayton Point power plant in Somerset, Mass., on Wednesday to give a speech about climate change. Brayton Point is currently shuttered while it transitions from burning coal to generating wind power.

Rhetorically, Biden has previously called climate change an “emergency,” but he has stopped short of making an official declaration under the National Emergencies Act.

U.S. presidents have declared 60 national emergencies since 1976, according to the think tank Demos. Historically, those have typically been for acute crises, such as specific natural disasters, rather than a long-term predicament like climate change.

In an era of increased partisan polarization and congressional gridlock, however, pushing the boundaries of executive action is becoming more common. Trump, for instance, declared illegal migration across the southern border a national emergency so he could use funds that Congress appropriated for the military to build a border wall, a move the Supreme Court upheld in 2019.

In theory, such a precedent would bode well for a climate emergency declaration, but one cannot assume too much consistency from a court that has also become more partisan and seen fit to limit the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce the Clean Air Act.

The Associated Press reported that on Wednesday, Biden “will stop short of issuing an emergency declaration that would unlock federal resources to deal with the issue,” according to a person familiar with the president’s plans. Sources acquainted with the White House’s thinking also told Yahoo News that though a climate emergency declaration is under serious consideration, it will not be coming this week. Instead, the president will reportedly announce some new executive orders on climate change during his Massachusetts speech. “Don’t be disappointed if you don’t see a climate emergency tomorrow,” one source told Reuters.

Biden has already signaled his intent to pursue an array of executive actions, such as stricter new rules limiting various pollutants. Until now, the White House has moved cautiously on executive actions on climate change, as it tried to…