With the election largely overshadowed by COVID-19 and the faltering economy, it’s no wonder discussions on environmental protections and climate change have taken a back seat. But in the midst of the hottest year on record, alongside record numbers of wildfires and hurricanes, where does each nominee stand on environmental issues?
Climate Change
President Trump has repeatedly questioned whether climate change caused by human actions is real. When asked about the wildfires in California and hurricanes in the Gulf Coast, Trump dismissed them as liberal propaganda that doesn’t prove climate change is real.
In 2018, when the US Global Change Research Program released its Climate Science Special Report, Trump called the findings “extreme” and “didn’t believe that climate change would hurt the economy.”
Former Vice-President Biden has called climate change the existential threat to humanity and endorses a $5 trillion Green New Deal, that supports clean energy, emission reduction, environmental R&D, and green jobs. In his election platform, he says he wants to ensure the US has a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions no later than 2050.
Global Agreements
In his first year in office, President Trump pulled the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Trump criticized the agreement, stating it imposed an unfair burden on the US and that it has done little to slow down emissions from other countries. Interestingly, the US withdrawal from the agreement goes into effect one day after the 2020 election.
Nevertheless, CO2 emissions are expected to drop up to 10% in 2020, according to a projection by the Energy Information Administration. The decrease is due to the COVID-19 pandemic which shut down the US economy for several months. The last decline in CO2 emissions was during the 2008 recession.
Biden has promised to not only rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement in his first 100 days in office but lead a global effort to increase major countries’ domestic climate targets. Biden would also ensure those commitments are transparent and enforceable. Finally, he would integrate climate change into foreign policy, trade, and national security strategies.
Water Pollution
In April, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Chief Andrew Wheeler said safe drinking water, plastic pollution and other litter in the oceans, drought in western states and water infrastructure are "the largest and most immediate environmental and public health issues affecting the world right now."
However, to fulfill a campaign promise to farmers, Trump removed Obama-era clean water protections intended to protect rivers, streams, wetlands and other bodies of water from pollution and runoff from industrial facilities and agriculture.
Biden has pledged to ensure all communities have safe drinking water and to prevent pollution of water in vulnerable communities -- such as Flint, Michigan -- by taking action against fossil fuel companies "and other polluters" that "put profit over people" by knowingly harming the environment or conceal information regarding potential environmental and health risks, according to his campaign website.
In addition, during his time in the Senate, Biden co-sponsored the Ocean-Dumping Ban Act of 1988, which prohibited dumping sewage, sludge and industrial waste.
Air Pollution
According to the Brookings Institution, the Trump administration replaced the Clean Power Plan with a weaker regulation and is in the process of eliminating other regulations that limit greenhouse gas emissions.
The change also took away California’s ability to set its own fuel economy rules, an ability it has had since the Clean Air Act was enacted in 1970.
The Trump administration has weakened rules limiting venting or flaring of methane from oil and gas production on public lands and requiring reporting of methane emissions from most oil and gas production. Methane is a greenhouse gas more potent than CO2, although it has a shorter lifespan in the environment.
The Trump Administration has also refused to strengthen National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter and ozone. NAAQS are a cornerstone of US policy to reduce air pollution and must be reviewed by an independent science advisory committee every five years.
According to the campaign website, a Biden administration would address air pollution by limiting methane pollution and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, strengthening the Clean Air Act, retrofitting government buildings to make them energy-efficient and climate-ready, and investing in new, sustainable fuels and technology in the aviation industry.
Clean Energy
Trump "remains committed" to expanding fossil fuel energy production in the US. To support the fossil fuel industry, the administration has rolled back regulations on airborne emissions of mercury, a potent neurotoxin, and other toxic substances from power plants and reduced regulation of the disposal and storage of coal ash, a residue from coal combustion that contains mercury, arsenic, and other toxins that has caused water pollution. Both changes were part of President Trump’s effort to fulfill his campaign promise to revive the US coal industry, which is in decline due to competition from cheap natural gas, not regulation, according to the Brookings Institution.
In support of oil and gas producers, President Trump has lifted bans on oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and parts of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, in coastal waters around the United States, and in areas formerly protected as National Monuments in Utah.
The administration has also intervened in permitting for fossil fuel infrastructure. Best known among these projects is the Keystone XL pipeline, intended to bring oil sands crude oil from Canada. But the administration also intervened in the approval for the Dakota Access pipeline to move oil from North Dakota’s oil fields and in some permits for the Atlantic Coast pipeline, intended to transport natural gas from the Marcellus Shale in West Virginia
Biden's plan to address the climate emergency would aspire to a 100% clean energy economy and reach net-zero emissions no later than 2050, according to the campaign website. Some of the targets include: net-zero energy in buildings, producing carbon-free hydrogen at same cost as shale gas, decarbonizing the food and agricultural sector, as well as industrial heat to make steel, concrete, and chemicals, capturing CO2 from power plants, improving grid-scale storage, and investing in small, modular nuclear reactors.
Drilling
The Trump administration sought in 2018 to open 90% of coastal areas under federal control for offshore drilling, but that plan was put on hold in 2019 after a legal decision stating that a ban of offshore drilling in some areas, which was put in place by former President Obama, could not be lifted.
Trump expanded a ban on drilling sites off the Atlantic Ocean, likely to appeal to voters in coastal states, such as all-important Florida, according to The Associated Press.
Biden has promised on his campaign website to pursue a global moratorium on offshore drilling and reminded voters that under the Obama-Biden administration large parts of the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans were banned for drilling.
The Democratic nominee supports banning new oil and gas permits on federal land. The ban would include fracking, according to his campaign.
The climate policies of the two candidates could not be more different. If Trump is re-elected, his administration would likely continue to loosen environmental regulations and protections and continue to ignore the warnings of scientists, experts and global leaders to reduce emissions and move towards an economy fueled by clean energy.
Under a Biden administration, deregulation of environmental protections would be reversed and regulations enforced. He would also commit to creating a green economy – infrastructure, transportation, buildings, energy –and creating the green jobs that would support this growing economy.
The choice could not be clearer.