Executive Order -- Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change (November 01, 2013)

[Turborama]

Source: White House

For Immediate Release

- - - - - - -

PREPARING THE UNITED STATES FOR THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to prepare the Nation for the impacts of climate change by undertaking actions to enhance climate preparedness and resilience, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. The impacts of climate change -- including an increase in prolonged periods of excessively high temperatures, more heavy downpours, an increase in wildfires, more severe droughts, permafrost thawing, ocean acidification, and sea-level rise -- are already affecting communities, natural resources, ecosystems, economies, and public health across the Nation. These impacts are often most significant for communities that already face economic or health-related challenges, and for species and habitats that are already facing other pressures. Managing these risks requires deliberate preparation, close cooperation, and coordinated planning by the Federal Government, as well as by stakeholders, to facilitate Federal, State, local, tribal, private-sector, and nonprofit-sector efforts to improve climate preparedness and resilience; help safeguard our economy, infrastructure, environment, and natural resources; and provide for the continuity of executive department and agency (agency) operations, services, and programs.

A foundation for coordinated action on climate change preparedness and resilience across the Federal Government was established by Executive Order 13514 of October 5, 2009 (Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance), and the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force led by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In addition, through the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), established by section 103 of the Global Change Research Act of 1990 (15 U.S.C. 2933), and agency programs and activities, the Federal Government will continue to support scientific research, observational capabilities, and assessments necessary to improve our understanding of and response to climate change and its impacts on the Nation.

A foundation for coordinated action on climate change preparedness and resilience across the Federal Government was established by Executive Order 13514 of October 5, 2009 (Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance), and the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force led by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In addition, through the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), established by section 103 of the Global Change Research Act of 1990 (15 U.S.C. 2933), and agency programs and activities, the Federal Government will continue to support scientific research, observational capabilities, and assessments necessary to improve our understanding of and response to climate change and its impacts on the Nation.

The Federal Government must build on recent progress and pursue new strategies to improve the Nation's preparedness and resilience. In doing so, agencies should promote: (1) engaged and strong partnerships and information sharing at all levels of government; (2) risk-informed decisionmaking and the tools to facilitate it; (3) adaptive learning, in which experiences serve as opportunities to inform and adjust future actions; and (4) preparedness planning.

Read more: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/11/01/executive-order-preparing-united-states-impacts-climate-change

---

Full executive Order at the link.

[Berlum]

2. Expect the Republicons to gin up their LIE Machine, Inc. (R)

That's how they are preparing...

[Auggie]

4. They won't lift one finger in support ...

well, maybe one.

[Dopers_Greed]

3. Cable news employees must be clocking overtime

The M$M is already hitting Obama hard 24/7 on the ACA website, the NSA, and Benghazi.

How will they ever find time to fit climate change denial into their line-up?

[alfredo]

12. At Faux News they spittin n spinnin about now.

[bobclark86]

5. Agenda 21! FEMA concentration camps! Death Panels! Takin our gunz!

THE COMMIE KENYAN NAZI MUSLIM IS COMIN' FUR TEH WHITES! RACE WAR!

or not... whatever...

[davidpdx]

29. LOL

Any minute on Fox News those will be the headlines most likely.

[freshwest]

33. Fox is behind the times but Infowars has the script ready for them...

[Hekate]

6. Okay -- we need a majority in the House and 60+ in the Senate, and a Dem POTUS in 2017

... or this will be thrown out on the first day in office of a GOP prez in 2017.

This is a huge step forward in having the US government recognize global climate change, but Executive Orders have a short shelf-life, as we know from the political football that is the "global gag order." If Obama could have gotten this through Congress, he would have, so now it is up to us.

GOTV 2014. It is up to us.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

9. [phone]. You are so right. n/t

[JDPriestly]

13. But we can't have Republicans running as Democrats winning elections.

That gets us nowhere when it comes to dealing with climate change.

We have to get real Democrats in there, people who understand the importance of Americans working together toward certain common goals. If we get a lot of "Democrats" who are really libertarians or conservadems in office, we will not have gained a thing.

[Hekate]

25. We've had this conversation before, JDP, and I know it concerns you. The fact is, every (D) adds....

... to a potential majority. The majority party determines committee assignments, every committee chairmanship, the Speaker of the House, the Senate Majority Leader, influences/decides which bills go forward... that and seniority (which would be destroyed by term limits) are the keys to actual power in the US Congress.

Replacing Darrel Issa with a centrist Democrat would bother me not at all if that is what his district will swallow and if it gets him the hell out of representing my state. Getting a Blue Dog elected in a bright-red gerrymandered district in the South would cause me to rejoice, because it would mean one less fanatical wingnut and one more in our column that we can actually work with. If you think those would be "conservadems" all I can say is try running a leftist in their district and good luck.

I don't know where you find libertarian "Democrats" anywhere besides lurking here at DU. I don't see them running for office, and if there are any actually in office now, please enlighten me.

Bottom line: In my district we have a completely solid Democratic representative and we can keep her until she chooses to retire, God willing. One district over is a guy the local weekly once called "a right wing spitwad." I know the difference, and we need sheer numbers to counteract his ilk.

[JDPriestly]

30. I remember the days of Southern Democrats. They held back progress even more

effectively than the Republicans do today. It took a fellow Southerner, Lyndon Johnson, to pass civil rights legislation and bring in Medicare.

And that was at a time when Southerners remembered Roosevelt and agreed with the Democratic economic philosophy. Nevertheless, the Southerners had a propensity for staying in office forever, getting re-elected over and over. They got seniority bringing their right-wing views to hinder the progress that Northern Democrats wanted to bring.

So, conservade3ms are not the answer. They prevent the liberal voices in the media and elsewhere from being heard. That was one of the things that prevented civil rights and equality from becoming issues in the South that could even be discussed without risk. I know. I was there at the time.

[Doctor_J]

34. but this has been proven false

If we elect"any dem", we will again enact right wing policies, and the loyalists will tell us it's because of the dinos they told us we had to elect.

[ancianita]

20. + 1,000,000 But I'm not sure how many 'up to us'es are going to pull it off. I'm waiting to see

just what kind of divide and conquer hot mess 'o lies the opponents' media be rollin' out before I'll have confidence in a focused and active electorate. Just being practical. Too many voters just sit on their behinds and don't pay attention. Looking at Leno's "jay walking" segments gives me the heebie jeebies.

[Hekate]

26. Some of our DUers work tirelessly and have posted How To many times

Look up MineralMan's OPs -- he could write a book on working precincts. Walking door to door, talking and persuading. Endlessly.

Get in touch with your local Democratic Club.

[ancianita]

31. That's IT? Well, heck, I've done that in Michigan, Iowa and Florida. Certainly I can do it again.

It's not the urging, it's the actual voting and then the honest counting that comes into play. I really hope the first leads to the second and third actions.

[Hekate]

32. You betcha

[Iliyah]

7. K & R

The GOPers will claim "Prez O is a dictator.

[alfredo]

11. So what else is new.

[peoli]

8. ummm.....

WOW?

[Cleita]

10. K&R

[GliderGuider]

14. Hell just froze over, right? K&R

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. This appears to be about the creation of a committee

Is that so amazing? I can see it might produce some good suggestions on how to ameliorate some effects, but this isn't regulation of carbon dioxide or anything. It won't do anything to slow down climate change, just make the US government a bit more prepared.

[GliderGuider]

28. Nothing's going to slow down climate change at this point.

But he said the words. In an executive order. I never expected him to even do that.

[modrepub]

15. Odd that something this important

is released somewhat late on a Friday and after the election. Not to belittle the importance of this. The POTUS is clearly on record that he believes that human activities are changing the planet's climate. No small accomplishment since there are many members of congress and politicians who want to avoid answering this question like the plague (see Chris Christie's response for a primer on how to provide a milquetoast response to this problem).

[Laelth]

17. News dump?

Obama is busy and doesn't want to go to war over this.



-Laelth

[bananas]

16. "Within 9 months...heads of the Departments...inventory and assessment..."

Sec. 3. Managing Lands and Waters for Climate Preparedness and Resilience. Within 9 months of the date of this order and in coordination with the efforts described in section 2 of this order, the heads of the Departments of Defense, the Interior, and Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, NOAA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, and other agencies as recommended by the Council established in section 6 of this order shall work with the Chair of CEQ and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to complete an inventory and assessment of proposed and completed changes to their land- and water-related policies, programs, and regulations necessary to make the Nation's watersheds, natural resources, and ecosystems, and the communities and economies that depend on them, more resilient in the face of a changing climate. Further, recognizing the many benefits the Nation's natural infrastructure provides, agencies shall, where possible, focus on program and policy adjustments that promote the dual goals of greater climate resilience and carbon sequestration, or other reductions to the sources of climate change. The assessment shall include a timeline and plan for making changes to policies, programs, and regulations. Agencies shall build on efforts already completed or underway as outlined in agencies' Adaptation Plans, as discussed in section 5 of this order, as well as recent interagency climate adaptation strategies such as the National Action Plan: Priorities for Managing Freshwater Resources in a Changing Climate, released October 28, 2011; the National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy, released March 26, 2013; and the National Ocean Policy Implementation Plan, released April 16, 2013.

So these reports should be complete by August 1 next year, many of them will be likely be finished before then.

[bananas]

18. Fact Sheet with list of Task Force Members

It has state, local, and tribal members.

http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/science/science-a-environmental/47560-white-house-fact-sheet-executive-order-on-climate-preparedness.html

White House Fact Sheet: Executive Order on Climate Preparedness

<snip>

Task Force members comprise governors, mayors, county officials and tribal leaders, representing a diverse range of communities. The members of the Task Force include:

State Officials:

Governor Neil Abercrombie (HI)

Governor Jerry Brown (CA)

Governor Eddie Calvo (GU)

Governor Jay Inslee (WA)

Governor Jack Markell (DE)

Governor Martin O’Malley (MD)

Governor Pat Quinn (IL)

Governor Peter Shumlin (VT)

Local Officials:

Mayor Ralph Becker (Salt Lake City, UT)

Mayor James Brainard (Carmel, IN)

Commissioner Paula Brooks (Franklin County, OH)

Supervisor Salud Carbajal (Santa Barbara County, CA)

Mayor Frank Cownie (Des Moines, IA)

Mayor Bob Dixson (Greensburg, KS)

Mayor Eric Garcetti (Los Angeles, CA)

Mayor George Heartwell (Grand Rapids, MI)

Mayor Kristin Jacobs (Broward County, FL)

Mayor Kevin Johnson (Sacramento, CA)

Mayor Michael Nutter (Philadelphia, PA)

Mayor Annise Parker (Houston, TX)

Mayor Patsy Parker (Perdido Beach, AL)

Mayor Madeline Rogero (Knoxville, TN)

Mayor Karen Weitkunat (Fort Collins, CO)

Mayor Dawn Zimmer (Hoboken, NJ)

Tribal Officials:

Karen Diver, Chairwoman, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (MN)

Reggie Joule, Mayor, Northwest Arctic Borough (AK)

<snip>

[ancianita]

22. Thanks! This is really good to know.

[postulater]

23. Tribal Officials!

Thank you, Mr. President!

[Hekate]

27. Zowie. Good list. Gov. Jerry Brown and Supervisor Salud Carbajal from my town!!!!

I don't know about the rest, but the fact that there are 4 Californians on the list tells me it is a serious group.

[ancianita]

21. I hope this will be the legal justification for stopping the XL Keystone and all fracking.

[AverageJoe90]

24. This is truly great news.

I honestly feel that we have just made a majorly positive step forward in dealing with the problems that climate change is presenting now, and may and/or will present in the future.

Of course, the deniers will insist that it's all a hoax and part of a "New World Order" conspiracy, and the most hardcore doomsayers(McPherson, et al.) will call it a "greenwashing" scam or futile(because, after all, we're just a bunch of glorified "tool monkeys", right? But perhaps this will get the more down-to-earth doomers to try to reconsider their views as well.), but, honestly, fuck 'em all, you know? It's about time some truly major progress was made......

[Doctor_J]

35. so he really can do some things by decree

I thought we had to have 84 democratic senators and 325 house members. Go figure.

btw

[Zorra]

36. Wow. Excellent. It would be wise to immediately begin changing the US economic program

by strictly regulating industry to help prevent further environmental damage, and make an increased, intense, focused effort on producing and using alternative energy systems.