ICYMI: President Biden Pushes Forward on Tackling Climate Crisis Despite Supreme Court's Attempt to Take Country Backwards

Yesterday, in response to the Supreme Court's ruling in West Virginia v. EPA, President Biden issued a statement on his unwavering commitment to "continue using lawful executive authority, including the EPA's legally-upheld authorities, to keep our air clean, protect public health, and tackle the climate crisis" and "tackle environmental injustice, create good-paying jobs, and lower costs for families building the clean energy economy."

Vice President Harris emphasized that while "the Supreme Court's misguided ruling aims to take our country backward," through "executive authority, legislation, and state and local action, we must charge forward." National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy stressed that even though the Supreme Court is "siding with extreme special interests that want to dismantle our right to clean air," President Biden will "keep moving us forward, using every tool we can to tackle the climate crisis," and EPA Administrator Michael Regan made clear that the agency "will move forward using our Clean Air Act authority, consistent with the law, to set greenhouse gas standards for power plants."

Read more about how the Biden-Harris Administration is pressing ahead:

Time: 'We Have to Be Creative.' How the Biden Administration Is Responding to the SCOTUS Climate Setback
[Justin Worland, 6/30/22]

Gina McCarthy, President Joe Biden's national climate advisor . . . was surprisingly optimistic—not that the ruling would go the Administration's way, but rather that the White House could chart a path to slash emissions even if it didn't. "We've set very solid goals, we're making significant progress on the transition to clean energy," she told TIME on June 28. "And that is not going to live and die by the Supreme Court's decision." To meet the White House's goals, she said, the Administration needs to get "creative" and find novel ways to galvanize the energy transition. That includes . . . the Administration's engagement with the private sector, use of its own purchasing power, and use of the Defense Production Act to accelerate the production of domestic clean energy technology, she says.

PBS NewsHour: EPA Administrator Michael Regan discusses Supreme Court ruling on climate change
[Interview, 6/30/22]

EPA Administrator Michael Regan: "Let me be clear. It doesn't take us out of the game. We still will be able to regulate climate pollution. And we're going to use all of the tools in our toolbox to do so . . . One tool that we will continue to look at is the authority that was in question with the Supreme Court. Again, that tool is still available. We have just lost some flexibility there . . . But it does not prevent us from continuing to make progress. And so we will have to be vigilant in terms of focusing on climate change pollution . . . We're going to use every tool in the toolbox that we have to set and implement environmental standards that meet our obligation to protect all people and all communities from environmental harm."

Gina McCarthy on CNN: The Lead with Jake Tapper
[Interview, 6/30/22]

National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy: "We are not giving up, we're actually going to double down. And we know that we have the legal authority, and frankly we have the mandate of the people in the United States and across the world who want to address this challenge of climate change and do it in a way that makes positive improvements in our lives."

Gina McCarthy on NPR: Morning Edition
[Interview, 7/01/22]

National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy: "The Court hasn't tied our hands on climate change . . . it was a very disappointing decision, but it did not strip away the ability for EPA to regulate greenhouse gases . . . and more broadly, people should understand that this President didn't come into office thinking that EPA was the sole way in which we could move forward on climate change . . . He recognized that special interests for decades have been funded by fossil fuel companies to really wage a long-term campaign to strip away all these environmental protections that keep our water and our air clean . . . but that's why the President said we're not just going to rely on EPA, we're going to have a whole-of-government approach . . . we're leaving no stone unturned . . . to invest in a clean energy future."