President Joe Biden wasted no time beginning to reverse the Trump administration’s energy and environmental policies Wednesday, taking action to rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change, block the Keystone XL oil pipeline and review more than 100 regulations by EPA, the Interior Department and other agencies.

Biden also put a temporary moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and will seek to tighten oil and gas methane regulations, energy efficiency standards for appliances, and air toxic rules for power plants.

In his inaugural address, Biden called for unity to confront the coronavirus pandemic, racial injustice, and what he called “a climate in crisis.”

The “cry for survival comes from the planet itself,” he said. “A cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear.”

Biden signed more than a dozen executive orders Wednesday afternoon, shortly after Vice President Kamala Harris swore into office Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both Democrats from Georgia, and Harris’ successor, Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).

“We’re going to combat climate change in a way we have not before,” Biden said at the signing in the Oval Office. But he added, “They are just executive actions. They are important but we’re going to need legislation for a lot of the things we’re going to do.”

Harris will have the tie-breaking vote in the Senate, which is split 50-50. But unless the Democrats decide to eliminate the filibuster, they will need to win support of at least 10 Republicans to pass most legislation.

The new president received pledges of cooperation from environmental organizations and industry trade groups — including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which on Tuesday for the first time endorsed a carbon tax.

On Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the Trump administration’s Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule for regulating power plants’ greenhouse gas emissions, eliminating a regulatory headache for Michael Regan, Biden’s nominee for EPA administrator. (See related story, DC Circuit Rejects Trump ACE Rule.)

But the day also came with a reminder that Biden’s executive powers will go only so far to meet his pledge to eliminate power sector carbon emissions by 2035 and make the U.S. the leader in electric vehicle production. The Democrats’ thin margins in Congress make it unlikely he will win approval for his proposed $2 trillion climate plan. (See Biden Offers $2 Trillion Climate Plan.)

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, issued a statement opposing the Paris Agreement, the revocation of the Keystone XL presidential permit and what she called “Green New Deal-style mandates.”

“There couldn’t be a worse time to double down on these executive orders as our economy recovers from the COVID-19 crisis. They will raise costs on families and also hamper America’s global competitive edge to lead a new era of innovation,” she said. “To win the future, we should come together on free-market strategies to protect our environment and unleash innovation without job-crushing mandates.”

Any legislative success would have to come with the support of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), incoming chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who gave measured support for rejoining the Paris Agreement.

“I agree that President Biden must renew America’s leadership on climate change through innovation,” the coal state senator said in a statement. “It is an issue that threatens every community, in every country across the globe. I also uphold my view that the Paris Agreement must be improved to set all nations on the same stage and hold each to the same standards of accountability.

“We must use every tool, natural resource and technology at our disposal in the cleanest way possible,” he added. “We must create jobs in places like West Virginia and wherever traditional energy workers have been left behind; and we must work with our allies and trading partners and hold every nation accountable to our climate goals.”

Reaction

On Tuesday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce added a paragraph to its position on climate change saying it supports a “market-based approach to accelerate” reductions in GHG emissions.

“We believe that durable climate policy must be made by Congress, and that it should encourage innovation and investment to ensure significant emissions reductions, while avoiding economic harm for businesses, consumers and disadvantaged communities,” said the statement, which was attributed to Martin Durbin, senior vice president for policy. “This policy should include well designed market mechanisms that are transparent and not distorted by overlapping regulations. U.S. climate policy should recognize the urgent need for action, while maintaining the national and international competitiveness of U.S. industry and ensuring consistency with free-enterprise and free-trade principles.”

Todd Snitchler, CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association, also urged Biden to use market-based approaches rather than mandates.

“Well designed power markets and policy approaches that unleash competition and focus on reducing emissions — not fuel- or technology-specific mandates — will create bipartisan opportunities and real solutions that protect customers as our grid evolves,” Snitchler said. “An economy-wide carbon price, a well designed Clean Energy Standard or other market solutions allow all resources to compete to reduce emissions at the least cost.”

Abigail Ross Hopper, CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said her excitement over Biden’s inauguration was tempered by “feelings of resolve and a sense of gravity for the work ahead. The climate crisis is a threat to everyone on this planet.”

Gregory Wetstone, CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy, praised Biden’s “commitment to move America beyond climate denial on his very first day in office, starting with rejoining the Paris climate agreement and initiating a wholesale review of the Trump administration’s climate and clean energy rollbacks — including the Department of Labor’s misguided anti-ESG investing rule.”

Liz Burdock, CEO of the Business Network for Offshore Wind, cited the 30% tax credit included for offshore wind developers in the stimulus and budget bill approved by Congress in December. (See Wind, Solar, EE, CO2 Storage Win Tax Breaks.)

“This is the opportunity the offshore wind industry has waited for,” she said. “President Biden’s unwavering commitment to develop renewable energies will usher in a new era for the offshore wind industry and for the U.S. supply chain. We are excited to work with the Biden administration to build the next great American industry that will inject at least $166 billion into the future U.S. economy.”

Jon Goldin-Dubois, president of Western Resource Advocates, said rejoining the Paris Agreement is only a “first step.”

“In addition, we must see continued and expanded state action to realize significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and we need additional and more aggressive federal measures, beyond rejoining the Paris climate agreement, to put our nation on track to meet the reductions called for by the science,” he said.