Climate-Change Action

Determining ways to limit the worst impacts of climate change will be the responsibility of a new task force of local, state, and federal officials created by President Barack Obama under an executive order he issued on Nov. 1.

The task force will lay out a strategy for how the nation should prepare for, protect against, and adapt to the increasing likelihood of climate-change-related disasters—scorching heat, sea-level rise, wildfires, droughts, floods, and storms, to name a few.

Obama’s order is part of a much larger national Climate Action Plan that he announced last June (C&EN, July 1, page 5). The President’s climate plan includes many other more sweeping and controversial elements—for example, the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to cut carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants.

“We are going to need to get prepared,” the President warned in June about the impacts of climate change, stressing that states and cities across the nation are already moving to protect themselves against climate-driven problems.

The new task force includes the governors of eight states, 16 local officials, and two tribal representatives. Within one year of its creation, the group is supposed to recommend ways to modernize federal, state, and local programs to avoid or better protect against climate-related disasters. The task force is also to develop climate preparedness tools and provide disaster-related guidance, information, and programs for states, local communities, and tribes.

Under the executive order, the task force dissolves six months after issuing its recommendations.

The creation of the task force was endorsed by several environmental organizations and utilities as well as some industry groups. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association, for instance, stressed the need for the task force to consider new smart electrical technologies and a more robust electrical grid to avoid power outages from more frequent superstorms.

The executive order also affects federal agencies and calls on them to work with state and local governments to mitigate climate-change impacts.