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. @JoeBiden recently released a stand-alone #EnvironmentalJustice plan. What does he pledge to do and how? And what's not in the plan? A thread 
... https://joebiden.com/environmental-justice/
... https://joebiden.com/environmental-justice/
This plan comes in addition to Biden’s climate plan (which I analyzed in the thread below and which features the campaign’s top-level environmental justice ideas) and goes into greater detail on how Biden proposes to address justice issues. https://twitter.com/EmilDimanchev/status/1284142487465058306?s=20
To recap, Biden’s high level pledge is to allocate 40% of benefits from climate investments toward disadvantaged communities. This will be achieved using a new Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool that will measure inequities in environmental impacts across social groups.
These and other proposals by Biden amount to him heavily borrowing from Inslee’s climate plan (see @drvox on Inslee’s climate justice plan below), and testify to the impact of Inslee’s campaign on the Democratic platform. https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/7/30/20731958/jay-inslee-for-president-climate-change-justice-plan-green-new-deal
Biden proposes what he calls an “all-of-government” approach to environmental justice by incorporating equity screens and standards throughout the executive government with a new executive order that would replace Clinton’s EO 12898.
Pause here to appreciate the fact that the executive government’s approach to climate justice dates back to a 1994 EO. It is indicative of how outdated it is and of the urgency of reform.
Biden plans to accomplish his goals through institutional changes w/in the federal government. For example, he proposes an EJ division within the Department of Justice, which is to hold polluters accountable for illegal infractions and “strategically” support climate litigation.
Other institutional changes include the creation of a White House Council on Environmental Quality to report directly to the President, and an overhauled EPA Civil Rights Compliance Office, which would give more voice to communities on these issues.
An interesting idea is for an interagency Climate Equity Task Force to directly work with and support environmental justice communities. It will help with capacity building and supposedly provide much needed access to financing.
These institutional changes reflect how Biden is trying to make the most of the limited powers the executive branch, which can’t pass legislation but has more discretion than most might think when it comes to how it interprets and enforces legislation already passed by Congress.
Biden also wants to tackle air pollution. He pledges to build better understanding of how it impacts communities, to publish a report within the 1st 100 days on strategies for pollution mitigation and to “recommend” states to prioritize mitigation in disadvantaged communities.
Mitigating local air pollution is a critical component of climate justice. It imposes high and immediate social costs. As I’ve quantified in my research, these costs tend to be greater than any economic benefits from keeping polluting plants running. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab31d9
The high costs of air pollution fall disproportionately on the under-privileged. This is why pollution mitigation, and specifically coal retirements, should be one of the cornerstones of climate justice policy. See great points by @noahqk and others here: https://twitter.com/noahqk/status/1280886090052898817?s=20
The various measures in Biden’s climate plan will have air pollution co-benefits. The plan also pledges $ and other support for coal communities. However, it is a little light on details on how it will deal with the issue of stranded coal assets. https://joebiden.com/clean-energy/
There are many ways to safely transition coal communities. These may include a buy-out program like the one @guay_JG writes about: https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/the-world-needs-a-cash-for-coal-clunkers-program. Or refinancing/securitization programs, on which RMI have produced a good report: https://rmi.org/insight/how-to-retire-early
Plans by former candidates featured more good ideas on helping coal communities. For example see this great thread by @leahstokes on Warren’s plan, which combined coal retirements with many different forms of transition assistance. https://twitter.com/leahstokes/status/1182005402210164736?s=20
The lack of detail may be attributed to Biden’s apprehension about ruffling feathers as I noted in my other thread. His strategy is caution. It may just be what is needed for a win in November, nobody really knows for sure. https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/07/02/why-joe-bidens-instinctive-caution-makes-real-change-possible
The last piece that Biden’s justice plan emphasizes is climate adaptation. Biden pledges to help disadvantaged communities prepare for future extreme weather through several different institutional changes to HHS, CDC, and OSHA.
We may further want to consider what else is not in the plan. As goes the conclusion from Sherlock Holmes’ story about the dog that didn’t bark, it’s often that which is missing but should be there that enables perspective and understanding.
An important but neglected piece of climate and justice policy is urban planning, and specifically, density policy that allows for affordable housing, reduces sprawl, and mitigates pollution. Inslee’s plan addressed this head on. Reposting the article here https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/7/30/20731958/jay-inslee-for-president-climate-change-justice-plan-green-new-deal
It’s also striking that this plan does not particularly rely on legislation, if at all. The implied realism is warranted, but another school of thought may advise some big thinking on future legislation that can inspire and lay groundwork just in case the Democrats win big.
It’s not the purpose of this thread to go into campaign approaches, so I won’t. As I alluded before, Biden’s electoral strategy may just be the right one, in which case, it is ultimately what environmental justice needs, i.e. for Trump to lose in November.
All in all, Biden’s environmental justice plan is good. It shows he’s listened to voters and has worked to unify ideas from other candidates. The plan makes clear that a Biden win would make great strides toward addressing climate change and environmental injustice. /end
