Biden visits Mass. for climate change announcement
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President Joe Biden will be in the Bay State Wednesday to talk climate change. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
President Joe Biden will be in Massachusetts on Wednesday to discuss his next steps on addressing climate change.
Driving the news: Biden plans to visit Somerset, at the site of the now-shuttered Brayton Point power plant, which is being turned into the state's first offshore wind manufacturing facility, to outline his plans, according to the White House.
- Biden's remarks come days after congressional climate and tax talks stalled.
- Biden considered declaring a climate emergency — which would allow him to use broad presidential powers to impose fossil fuel restrictions and fund efforts to scale up the clean energy sector — but instead is expected to announce some other executive actions, report Axios’ Hans Nichols and Alayna Treene.
Why it matters: Massachusetts is one of the leading clean energy hubs in the nation, with Boston and the southeastern area being the home base for many renewable wind energy projects.
- U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, one of the architects of the "Green New Deal" legislation, will join Biden.
What they're saying: "We are living through a climate crisis and we need to govern like it," Markey said in a statement to Axios. "As climate and clean energy action has stalled in the Senate, I know that President Biden will kick his administration into fourth gear to take serious and significant action to save our planet."
Threat level: The world is literally on fire. Extreme heat in Western Europe and across the U.S. this summer is providing a rude awakening on the consequences of human-induced climate change.
Zoom in: In Massachusetts, that means more flooding and extreme temperatures. A 2018 report from the Union of Concerned Scientists projects that thousands of homes along the Bay State coast are at risk of becoming "chronically" inundated by 2045, including 405 in Boston, 659 in Quincy and 1,105 in Revere.
Zoom out: World leaders have limited time to act on this problem. A landmark UN report released in April says that global warming could surpass 3°C by the end of the century — double the 1.5°C threshold that scientists have warned would have devastating impacts if the world doesn't shift away from fossil fuels.