President Biden promised Wednesday to provide new economic opportunities to coal miners and power plant communities as he announced a “whole-of-government” approach to addressing climate change.

Joined by his two top climate advisers, former Secretary of State John Kerry and former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, the president signed a memorandum and two executive orders, calling for evidence-based policymaking, funding for disadvantaged communities and making climate change a central consideration in all federal government decisions.

“It’s not time for small measures. We need to be bold,” Biden said in remarks before the signing.

“So, let me be clear: [We are going] to revitalize the economies of coal, oil and gas and power plant communities. We’re never going to forget the men and women who dug the coal and built the nation,” Biden promised. “We’re going to do right by them [and] make sure they have opportunities to keep building the nation in their own communities and getting paid well for it.”

Biden signed a memorandum re-establishing scientific advisory committees, vowing that his administration will protect scientists from political interference and ensure their agencies make evidence-based decisions. Biden also signed an executive order re-establishing the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and charged the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) with responsibility for ensuring scientific integrity across federal agencies.

At the Center of Foreign Policy and National Security

Another executive order says climate considerations will be “an essential element” of U.S. foreign policy and national security, with Kerry, named Biden’s special presidential envoy for climate, becoming a member of the National Security Council.

Biden will hold a Leaders’ Climate Summit on Earth Day, April 22, that will seek “to promote a significant increase in global ambition” to reduce emissions. Officials said the U.S. will determine its “nationally determined contribution” — or emission reduction target under the Paris Agreement — before the summit.

“The convening of this summit is essential to ensuring that 2021 is going to be the year that really makes up for the lost time of the last four years,” Kerry said in a press conference.

Kerry acknowledged the U.S.’ disputes with China over access to markets and intellectual property theft, vowing “those issues will never be traded for anything that has to do with climate. That’s not going to happen.”

The order also directs the director of national intelligence to prepare a National Intelligence Estimate on the security implications of climate change. “This is the first time a president has ever done that,” Kerry said.

Kerry acknowledged the cost of the $2 trillion climate plan Biden proposed during the campaign. “Yes, it’s a lot of money,” he said. “But you know what? It costs a lot more if you don’t do the things we need to do. There are countless economic analyses that show that it is now cheaper to deal with the crisis of climate than it is to ignore it. We spent $265 billion two years ago on three storms: Irma, Harvey and Maria. … So, we’re spending the money folks. We’re just not doing it smart. We’re not doing it in the way that would actually sustain us for the long term.”

‘Whole-of-government’ Approach

Biden also ordered the creation of an Office of Domestic Climate Policy in the White House, to be led by McCarthy, the first-ever national climate adviser. The office will serve as a clearing house for coordinating and implementing Biden’s domestic climate agenda.

The president also announced creation of the National Climate Task Force, a group of officials from 21 federal agencies and departments to take a “whole-of-government” approach to addressing climate change. Each federal agency will be required to develop a plan for increasing the resilience of their facilities and operations against climate change.

Biden also ordered federal agencies to purchase carbon-free electricity and zero-emission vehicles, saying it would “create good-paying, union jobs and stimulate clean energy industries.” Biden said the government’s support for EVs could generate 1 million new jobs.

The directive, which builds on Biden’s “Buy American” executive order on Monday, requires agencies to strictly enforce the prevailing wage and benefit guidelines of the Davis Bacon Act and other laws.

The secretary of the interior is required to “pause” new oil and natural gas leases on federal lands and waters “to the extent possible” and conduct a review of existing leasing and permitting practices related to fossil fuel development. The president said he would eliminate fossil fuel subsidies where possible under existing law and seek congressional approval for other cuts.

But he made clear he would not take a step some environmentalists have urged. “I know this always comes up,” Biden said in remarks before the signing. “We’re not going to ban fracking. We’ll protect jobs and grow jobs, including through stronger standards like controls [of] methane leaks and union workers willing to install the changes.”

Biden said his directives will create jobs in construction, manufacturing, engineering and skilled trades “by directing steps to ensure that every federal infrastructure investment reduces climate pollution and that steps are taken to accelerate clean energy and transmission projects under federal siting and permitting processes in an environmentally sustainable manner.”

He called for creation of a Civilian Climate Corps to employ people conserving and restoring public lands and waters, increasing reforestation and carbon sequestration in agriculture and protecting biodiversity. The Secretary of Agriculture was directed to collect input from farmers, ranchers, and other stakeholders on how to use federal programs to encourage adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices that produce carbon reductions and sequestrations.

Revitalize Energy Communities

Biden also established an Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization, to be co-chaired by McCarthy and Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, to direct federal agencies to coordinate investments and other efforts to assist coal, oil and natural gas, and power plant communities.

The order also includes a “Justice40 Initiative,” requiring the chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, the director of the Office of Management and Budget and the national climate adviser to publish within 120 days “recommendations on how certain federal investments might be made toward a goal that 40% of the overall benefits flow to disadvantaged communities.”

The recommendations will focus on clean energy and energy efficiency; clean transit; affordable and sustainable housing; training and workforce development; the remediation of legacy pollution; and the development of clean water infrastructure.

“We have to make sure that in this transition, every agency in government is using every tool at their disposal to drive resources to those communities,” McCarthy said.

Kerry said displaced fossil fuel workers can find good jobs in the clean energy economy, such as installing solar panels and wind turbines.

“Seventy to seventy-five percent of all the electricity that’s come online in the U.S. in the last few years came from renewables. Coal plants have been closing over the last 20 years. What President Biden wants to do is make sure those folks have better choices; that they can be the people that make the solar panels. That we’re making them here at home.

“Unfortunately, workers have been fed a false narrative,” he continued. “They’ve been fed the notion that somehow dealing with climate is coming at their expense. No, it’s not. What’s happening to them is happening because of other market forces already taking place. What the financiers — the big banks, the asset managers, private investors, venture capitalists — are all discovering is there’s a lot of money to be made in the creation of these new jobs.”

Kerry’s comments echoed those that Biden’s nominee for secretary of energy, Jennifer Granholm, made during her confirmation hearing the same day. (See related story, Granholm Attempts to Placate Coal State Senators.)

Manchin Vows to Collect on Biden’s Promises

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), incoming chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, issued a statement supporting the pause on new drilling leases on federal lands and waters. “Currently, 53% of onshore acres leased and 77% of offshore acres leased have no active production,” he said. “It is prudent to evaluate if taxpayers are receiving a fair return for the use of their resources. This executive order will not impact energy activity like drilling or permitting on existing leases.”

Manchin also reiterated his insistence that the nation seek innovation that allows it to address climate change without blacklisting fossil fuels.

“Instead of elimination, we must instead focus on utilizing all of our resources in the cleanest way possible. Today’s executive orders also commit the Biden administration to focus on reinvesting in communities that have seen the loss of traditional energy jobs, like many in West Virginia,” Manchin said.

“I intend to hold the administration to this while ensuring that the burden of any acceleration in already changing markets is not unduly placed on these communities that powered our nation to greatness. I stand ready to work with this administration to ensure West Virginia communities see these much needed investments.”