How would Elizabeth Warren tackle climate change in the ocean?
December 10, 2019
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Tuesday unveiled a "Blue New Deal" to address climate change and pollution in the ocean.
What would the plan do?
It aims to tackle climate change in the oceans while also addressing ocean pollution, climate resilience, and aquaculture.
How would it work?
The Blue New Deal calls for an immediate halt to new offshore oil drilling, as well as the phasing out of existing offshore drilling. It proposes streamlining permitting for offshore wind farms, which have suffered long delays. She calls for electrifying ports to reduce emissions and air pollution that pose health risks to nearby communities. She wants to better prepare for storms made strong by climate change with a five-fold increase in spending on FEMA's pre-disaster mitigation grant program.
In order to clean up the oceans, Warren calls for expanding marine protected areas, which are sanctuaries in which most commercial fishing and other activities are banned. And she wants to fight plastic pollution by reducing the use of single-use plastic and increasing recycling.
What are the weaknesses in the proposal?
As in many of Warren's plans, executive action can only take her so far. While she could stop issuing new offshore drilling permits and find ways to prioritize the processing of permits for offshore wind farms, extending tax credits for renewable energy sources would require the support of Congress. And even if Democrats can take both chambers, they may not have the votes to overcome a likely Republican filibuster.
How much would it cost?
Warren does not put a price tag on this proposal, but she does say that parts of it would fall under her $400 billion Green Apollo program to research clean energy and her $2 trillion Green Manufacturing plan.
How would she pay for it?
Warren has promised in her other plans to fund her climate activities with higher taxes on corporations. In this plan, she discusses increasing the royalty rates on energy companies drilling U.S. waters. She says oil companies have avoided $18 billion in royalty payments thanks to reductions in rates by the Trump administration, which she would end.
What have other Democrats proposed?
No other Democrat has issued a proposal specifically on oceans. Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke had a plan to revive fisheries, but he has since dropped out of the presidential race.
Who would it help?
The plan aims to help coastal communities affected by climate change, practitioners of aquaculture, communities near ports, and everyone affected by climate change.
Who opposes it?
Republicans, who have already trumpeted Warren's proposal to ban fracking as folly, will likely seize on her call to end offshore drilling as handicapping the American economy and forcing the U.S. to rely more on foreign oil.
Warren's support of marine protected areas and offshore wind could raise ire among fisherman who generally oppose such policies, as well as many Republicans who criticized former President Barack Obama's use of executive power to create new protected zones.
Source: https://www.politico.com/
