In his first 100 days, President Obama has set a bold agenda on the environment, laying out a comprehensive energy and climate plan as one of his top three policy priorities. His administration has moved quickly to limit global warming pollution, reduce America's dependence on oil, protect public health, and invest in clean energy sources- from the sun, wind and water. But many challenges lay ahead, including the Interior Department's misguided step of taking grey wolves off the endangered species list. The Natural Resouces Defense Council (NRDC) has launched this timeline to assess the administration's impact on the environment, and we will continue to update it as Mr. Obama's presidency unfolds.
Created by nrdcweb on Apr 27, 2009
Last updated: 03/11/10 at 07:48 PM
Tags: barackobama 100days environment
President Obama announced in a memorandum that he will establish a taskforce to provide policy recommendations and a framework for managing our nation’s oceans, coasts and Great Lakes, which are currently governed by more than 140 laws and 20 agencies, each with different goals and conflicting mandates. Our coastal waters are under the growing stresses of pollution, global warming, overfishing and energy development.
The administration announced it will coordinate review of mountaintop removal permits among the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of the Interior, and Army Corps of Engineers. Administration officials announced that they are taking “unprecedented steps to reduce the environmental impacts of mountaintop coal mining” in the six Appalachian states of Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The announcement fails to address the destructive impact of mountaintop removal.
President Obama announced new national greenhouse gas and fuel economy standards for cars and trucks, which will deliver the benefits of California’s landmark standards nationwide. Additionally, California expects to receive its long-awaited waiver from EPA early this summer, allowing it to enforce its global warming standards which were adopted under its clean car law. Thirteen other states and the District of Columbia have since adopted the same standards.
Department of Interior Secretary Salazar announced that a controversial rule issued by the Bush administration undercutting Endangered Species Act protections for the polar bear would remain in place. The Bush administration’s Interior listed the bears as threatened last year, agreeing with scientists about the impacts of Arctic warming on polar bears, but also issued a “special rule” that excludes greenhouse gas emissions, thereby limiting protection of the bears under the ESA.
The Obama administration announced today that they would be dumping eleventh-hour Bush Administration changes to the Endangered Species Act that would have dramatically weakened the landmark wildlife protection law. The decision will once again require federal agencies to consult with experts at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration before taking action that could impact threatened or endangered species. NRDC and other groups had sued to roll back the Bush Administration changes that have now been repealed.
The California Air Resources Board overwhelmingly approved the nation’s first Low Carbon Fuel Standard that will reduce carbon pollution and provide cleaner air for Californians.
Switchboard Blog Post by NRDC's Roland Hwang
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090424.asp
President Obama declared: “The nation that leads the world in creating new energy sources will be the nation that leads the 21st-century global economy.” And he reiterated that his administration will be “pursuing comprehensive legislation to move towards energy independence and prevent the worst consequences of climate change.”
Switchboard Blog Post by NRDC's Frances Beinecke
Photo Credit: White House Photo/Pete Souza
Full Video from CSPAN below.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/22/A-Choice-Between-Prosperity-and-Decline/
EPA announced that the pollutants that cause global warming are a danger to public health and welfare, following through on the Supreme Court ruling from 2007 and starting the process of regulating those pollutants.
Switchboard Blog Posts by NRDC's Roland Hwang and David Donniger
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090417.asp
A comprehensive survey of offshore energy resources by DOI shows enormous potential for offshore wind power, particularly off the Atlantic Coast, and identifies major information gaps for offshore oil and gas resources.
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090402.asp
The Waxman-Markey discussion draft is the first move by this Congress to enact comprehensive energy and climate legislation and lay a new path to a cleaner energy future called for by President Obama.
Switchboard Featured Blog Posts about this topic.
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090331.asp
EPA announced that under a new global agreement it is taking steps to reduce air ship pollution within 200 miles of U.S. shores by requiring U.S. and foreign-flagged ships to use dramatically cleaner fuel and more effective pollution controls for their engines.
Photo Credit: jdnx Daniel Ramirez
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090330.asp
EPA expressed serious concern today about mountaintop removal mining’s potential harmful impacts on waterways. In two letters to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, EPA focused concern on two surface coal mining operations in West Virginia and Kentucky, and intends to review other requests for mining permits.
Photo Credit: Henry Fair
Switchboard Blog Post by NRDC's Rob Perks
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090324a.asp
President Obama proposed a federal budget that includes investments in clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency over 10 years; creating jobs, reducing America’s dependence on oil, and preventing the worst consequences of global warming.
Photo Credit: fieldsbh via Flickr
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090323.asp
DOI Sec. Ken Salazar today announced that the agency will increasingly focus on advancing clean, renewable energy and addressing global warming, and a new energy and climate change task force to advance the Interior Department’s renewable energy agenda.
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090311.asp
EPA Admin. Lisa Jackson today issued proposed emissions reporting rules that will provide the framework for federal regulation of global warming pollution. Congress ordered EPA to establish monitoring and inventory rules for greenhouse gas emissions in 2007, but action was blocked by the Bush administration.
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090310.asp
DOI Sec. Salazar announced he will remove the gray wolf from the federal Endangered Species List in Montana and Idaho, as well as the western Great Lakes region. Wolves in the state of Wyoming will remain under Endangered Species Act protection due to federal concern over the inadequacy of the state’s management plan.
Switchboard Blog Post by NRDC's Andrew Wetzler
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090306.asp
President Obama announced that he would reverse Bush administration’s last-minute changes to the Endangered Species Act which would dramatically weaken and limit the use of the landmark wildlife protection law.
Switchboard Blog Post by NRDC's Andrew Wetzler
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090303.asp
In this speech, President Obama presented a bold, ambitious vision to restore America's economy and move to a new clean energy future driven by a cap on carbon pollution.
Video excerpt of President Obama's first address to the joint session of Congress.
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090224.asp
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider a Bush-era rule that would have allowed a cap-and-trade approach to controlling toxic mercury emitted by the U.S. power industry. The Court also granted the Obama administration’s request to abandon EPA’s appeal of those two rules. This decision invalidates the Bush rule and sets a new course that will help protect America’s waterways from toxic mercury pollution.
Photo Credit: dbking
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090223.asp
The Obama administration’s reversal of U.S. policy influenced policy reversals by China and India and representatives of more than 140 countries to commit to reduce global pollution of mercury. The legally binding treaty will be enacted by 2013 and will help protect the world’s citizens from this dangerous neurotoxin.
Switchboard Blog Post by NRDC's Frances Beinecke
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090220.asp
EPA Administrator Jackson granted a petition by NRDC and other conservation groups to reconsider a memo signed by Admin. Johnson in December, 2008, that refused to regulate carbon dioxide from new coal-fired power plants. Jackson announced that EPA would convene a public process to reconsider the disputed memo, in what was widely seen as the first step to reversing the Bush policy on carbon emissions. NRDC et al. also have filed a lawsuit challenging the memorandum.
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090217.asp
Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus bill, advancing in turning around America’s economy and a clean energy future. The economic recovery package makes smart investments in transportation, renewable energy and energy efficiency that will jumpstart the economy, help sustain future growth, and meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Photo Credit: Apollo Gonzales
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090213.asp
DOI Sec. Salazar announced he will thoroughly review the five-year oil and gas leasing program for the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) that was announced in the final days of the Bush administration.
Photo Credit: FlickrLickr Chad Teer
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090210b.asp
EPA Administrator Jackson granted an NRDC petition to reconsider and issue a 3-month “stay” for a Bush administration midnight air pollution rule that relieves industrial polluters of the need to aggregate and control their emission increases.
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090210.asp
EPA announced it will reconsider its decision to deny California a waiver and permission for the state to set standards controlling greenhouse gases from motor vehicles.
Switchboard Blog Post by NRDC's Roland Hwang
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090206.asp
EPA Administrator Jackson directed the U.S. Solicitor General to ask the Supreme Court to drop the Bush administration's appeal to resurrect its power plant mercury rule. The Bush administration had petitioned the Supreme Court in October, 2008, to reverse a lower court decision overturning those rules.
Switchboard Blog Post by NRDC's John Walke
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jwalke/faq_about_the_court_decision_o.html
President Obama announced he is requesting DOE to set new efficiency standards for common household appliances. The president said as a result, DOE will save over 30 years the amount of energy produced by all the coal-fired power plants in America over a two-year period.
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090205.asp
Department of Interior announced it would cancel 77 oil and gas drilling leases issued under the Bush administration, protecting more than 100,000 acres of Utah wilderness, near Arches and Canyonlands national parks, Dinosaur National Monument, and Nine Mile Canyon. These lands contain some of the nation’s greatest density of ancient rock art and other cultural resources.
Photo Credit: Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090204a.asp
In a swift move effecting energy and global warming policy, President Obama directed the EPA to reconsider the California waiver and the Department of Transportation to raise national fuel efficiency standards.
Switchboard Blog Post by NRDC's Roland Hwang
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090126.asp
Obama names Ken Salazar as Secretary of Interior and former Governor Vilsack to Head of Department of Agriculture.
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2008/081217c.asp
President-elect Obama appoints Carol Browner as ‘Energy Czar,” Lisa Jackson as administrator of EPA, Dr. Steven Chu as Secretary of Department of Energy, and Nancy Sutley as head of Council for Environmental Quality (CEQ).
Switchboard Blog Post by NRDC's Frances Beinecke
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2008/081215.asp
Switchboard Blog Post by NRDC's Frances Beinecke Photo Credit: Gabbec
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