At President Biden's Earth Day event held in Prince William Forest Park, Virginia, he announced the Solar for All program and the opening of American Climate Corps applications. Credit: LCV
Every week, we round up five of the best good climate news stories we’re celebrating. This Earth Week we had a lot to celebrate, with a series of announcements from the Biden-Harris administration including new rules to cut pollution from power plants, launch of the American Climate Corps application website, $7 billion to fund a new Solar for All project, a hazardous substance designation for PFAS, and a new partnership to protect freshwater resources.
The EPA has released four new rules to tackle pollution from power plants. The final rules will reduce carbon emissions from existing coal and new natural gas power plants, update and strengthen the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), cut wastewater pollution, and implement new regulations on coal ash.
Pollution from power plants, which includes arsenic, soot, mercury, and other toxic materials, threatens the health and safety of our communities, especially those living in close proximity to power plants which are disproportionately communities of color and communities of low wealth.
The new safeguards will help to protect the climate and provide billions of dollars in public health benefits nationwide.
Source: The White House
President Biden has announced that applications for the American Climate Corps, a trailblazing initiative modeled after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps, are now open.
The initiative will put over 20,000 young people to work fighting the damaging effects of climate change, and will expand the country’s clean energy and climate-resilient sectors.
The program will prepare participants with skills to advance their careers, expand their eligibility for graduate programs, and place them in priority communities across the country. Additionally, the American Climate Corps will partner with TradeFutures, the nonprofit partner of North America’s Building Trades Union, to provide members with access to their apprenticeship readiness curriculum.
Source: AmeriCorps
President Biden announced EPA will invest $7 billion in grants to help communities nationwide access the environmental and cost benefits of residential solar.
The grants will be awarded to state, local, and tribal governments, as well as municipalities and non-profits. Projects funded by the awards are concentrated in low-income communities that often spend up to 30% of their income on energy costs. EPA estimates the projects funded by these grants will save households a total of $8 billion on their energy bills over the life of the program.
The projects will also create 200,000 jobs and advance the President’s Justice40 initiative.
Source: The Guardian
EPA has listed PFOS and PFOA, two toxic “forever chemicals” linked to various types of cancer and other health issues, as hazardous chemicals under the Superfund program. This designation will expedite PFAS clean-up operations nationwide in order to cut PFAS pollution, protect public health and the environment, and hold polluters accountable.
Alongside the determination, EPA also announced a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) enforcement discretion policy. This policy will allow the agency to focus PFAS cleanup enforcement efforts on entities that have contributed heavily to PFAS pollution, such as PFAS manufacturers and other industrial parties.
Source: EPA
The Biden-Harris administration launched the “America the Beautiful Freshwater Challenge: A Partnership to Conserve and Restore America’s Rivers, Lakes, Streams, and Wetlands” to protect and restore 8 million acres of wetlands and 100,000 miles of rivers and streams nationwide.
The partnership has over 100 inaugural members, including LCV, 34 state and local governments, and eight Tribes. Together, these partners will work to undo damage from last year’s Supreme Court decision, Sackett v. EPA, in which the captured Court stripped protections from over 90% of the country’s wetlands.
Source: The White House
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©2024 League of Conservation Voters
