The Climate Action Plan is an environmental plan by Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, that proposed a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. It included preserving forests, encouraging alternate fuels, and increasing the study of climate change. The plan was first prepared in 2008 and was then updated every two years.[1]
President Obama's last Climate Action Plan, issued in June 2013, included regulations for the industry with the ultimate goal of cutting domestic carbon emission, preparing the U.S. for impending effects of climate change, and working internationally to address climate change.[2] Among the regulations outlined in the plan were initiatives to increase natural disaster preparedness, create and improve existing hospitals, and modernize infrastructure to withstand better extreme weather.[2]
The plan would have supported the conservation of land and water resources and developed actionable climate science, and encouraged other countries to take action to address climate change, including reducing deforestation and lowering subsidies that increase the use of fossil fuels. The plan specifically mentioned methane, building efficiency, wind, solar and hydroelectricity.[3]
White House staff members who were directly tasked with the implementation of the plan included Heather Zichal and Michelle Patron.
Cancellation and reinstatement of the Climate Action Plan
On the first day of the presidency of Donald Trump, the White House website announced that Obama's Climate Action Plan would be eliminated, stating it is "harmful and unnecessary".[4] In March 2017, Trump signed an executive order to officially nullify Obama's Clean Power Plan in an effort, it said, of reviving the coal industry.[5] In January 2021, on the Inauguration Day of U.S. president Joe Biden, Trump's executive order was revoked by the executive order "Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis", thereby reinstating the Obama Climate Action Plan.[6]
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United States environmental law |
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Supreme Court decisions |
- Missouri v. Holland (1920)
- Sierra Club v. Morton (1972)
- Vermont Yankee v. NRDC (1978)
- Hughes v. Oklahoma (1979)
- Lujan v. National Wildlife Federation (1990)
- Friends of the Earth v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (2000)
- BP P.L.C. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore (2021)
| NEPA cases |
- United States v. SCRAP (1973)
- Metropolitan Edison Co. v. People Against Nuclear Energy (1983)
- Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. v. Natural Resources Defense Council (1983)
- Department of Transportation v. Public Citizen (2004)
- Norton v. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (2004)
- Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council (2008)
- Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms (2010)
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| CAA cases |
- Train v. Natural Resources Defense Council (1975)
- Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council (1984)
- Whitman v. American Trucking Associations (2001)
- Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation v. EPA (2004)
- Department of Transportation v. Public Citizen (2004)
- Massachusetts v. EPA (2007)
- Environmental Defense v. Duke Energy Corp. (2007)
- American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut (2011)
- Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA (2014)
- Michigan v. EPA (2015)
- HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining v. Renewable Fuels Association (2021)
- West Virginia v. EPA (2022)
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| RCRA cases |
- City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey (1978)
- Southern Union Co. v. United States (2012)
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| ESA cases |
- Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill (1978)
- Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife (1992)
- Babbitt v. Sweet Home Chapter of Communities for a Great Oregon (1995)
- National Association of Home Builders v. Defenders of Wildlife (2007)
- Weyerhaeuser Company v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service (2018)
- United States Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club (2021)
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| CWA cases |
- United States v. Riverside Bayview (1985)
- SWANCC v. Army Corps of Engineers (2001)
- South Florida Water Management District v. Miccosukee Tribe (2004)
- S. D. Warren Co. v. Maine Board of Environmental Protection (2006)
- Rapanos v. United States (2006)
- National Association of Home Builders v. Defenders of Wildlife (2007)
- Entergy Corp. v. Riverkeeper Inc. (2009)
- Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (2009)
- Sackett v. EPA I (2012)
- Los Angeles County Flood Control District v. Natural Resources Defense Council (2013)
- Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co. (2016)
- National Association of Manufacturers v. Department of Defense (2018)
- County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund (2020)
- Sackett v. EPA II (2023)
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| CERCLA cases |
- United States v. Bestfoods (1998)
- Guam v. United States (2021)
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Major federal legislation, treaties, and lower court decisions |
- Yellowstone National Park Protection Act (1872)
- Forest Service Organic Administration Act (1897)
- Rivers and Harbors Act (1899)
- Lacey Act (1900)
- Weeks Act (1911)
- North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911 (1911)
- Weeks–McLean Act (1913)
- Migratory Bird Treaty Act (1918)
- Clarke–McNary Act (1924)
- Oil Pollution Act (1924)
- McSweeney-McNary Act (1928)
- Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (1934)
- Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act (1954)
- Air Pollution Control Act (1955)
- Fish and Wildlife Act (1956)
- Oil Pollution Act (1961)
- Clean Air Act (1963, 1970, 1977, 1990)
- Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference v. Federal Power Commission (2nd Cir. Court of Appeals, 1965)
- Solid Waste Disposal Act (1965)
- Endangered Species Act (1969)
- Environmental Quality Improvement Act (1970)
- National Environmental Policy Act (1970)
- Clean Water Act (1972, 1977, 1987, 2014)
- Coastal Zone Management Act (1972)
- Coastal Zone Management Program
- Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (1972)
- Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act (1972)
- Noise Control Act (1972)
- Endangered Species Act (1973)
- Oil Pollution Act (1973)
- Safe Drinking Water Act (1974, 1986, 1996)
- Water Resources Development Act (1974, 1976, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2007, 2014, 2016, 2022)
- Federal Noxious Weed Act (1975)
- Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (1975)
- Magnuson–Stevens Act (1976)
- Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976)
- Toxic Substances Control Act (1976)
- Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (1977)
- Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (1978)
- CERCLA (Superfund) (1980)
- Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (1986)
- Emergency Wetlands Resources Act (1986)
- Global Change Research Act (1990)
- National Environmental Education Act (1990)
- Oil Pollution Act (1990)
- Alien Species Prevention and Enforcement Act of 1992
- Food Quality Protection Act (1996)
- Energy Policy Act (2005)
- Energy Independence and Security Act (2007)
- Coalition for Responsible Regulation, Inc. v. EPA (D.C. Cir. Court of Appeals, 2012)
- Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act (2016)
- America's Water Infrastructure Act (2018)
- Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (2021)
- Louisiana v. Biden (5th Cir. Court of Appeals, 2022)
- CHIPS and Science Act (2022)
- Inflation Reduction Act (2022)
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| Federal agencies |
- Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
- Council on Environmental Quality
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Office of Surface Mining
- United States Environmental Protection Agency
- United States Fish and Wildlife Service
- U.S. Global Change Research Program
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Regulations and concepts | |
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