乔·拜登总统周三宣布了几项应对气候变化的行政措施，重点是帮助美国人面对酷热-但这些措施没有达到气候活动人士呼吁的更全面的措施。
虽然拜登周三没有像许多活动人士和民主党议员鼓励他那样宣布全国进入气候紧急状态，但他强烈暗示他会很快这样做。
“现在让我说清楚，气候变化是一个紧急情况，在未来几周，我将利用我作为总统的权力，通过适当的公告、行政命令和总统拥有的监管权力，将这些话转化为正式的官方政府行动，”他说。"谈到应对气候变化，我不会接受否定的回答."
就目前而言，指令似乎在很大程度上为现有项目提供了更多资金或加强了现有项目。
根据白宫的说法，总统最新的一系列行政措施集中在“保护面临威胁的社区”酷热为联邦应急管理局的建设弹性基础设施和社区(BRIC)计划提供额外的22财年资金，并为支持卫生与公众服务部低收入家庭能源援助计划(LIHEAP)提供额外的指导。“金砖四国计划为社区减灾提供资金，而LIHEAP为低收入美国人提供能源费用援助。
拜登还宣布了促进国内海上风电产业的额外行动。
President Joe Biden speaks about climate change and clean energy at Brayton Power Station, on July 20, 2022, in Somerset, Mass.
埃文·伍奇/美联社
拜登是在参观马萨诸塞州萨默塞特的一座名为布雷顿角(Brayton Point)的燃煤发电厂时宣布上述消息的。据白宫称，该场地预计将被改造成一个制造厂，为马萨诸塞州的海上风电行业生产传输电缆。
“我今天带着一个信息来到这里，”拜登说。“作为总统，我有责任在我们的国家面临明显和现实的危险时采取紧急和果断的行动，这就是气候变化的意义所在。”
拜登继续说，“这是字面上的，而不是象征性的，一个明确而现实的危险。我们的公民和社区的健康确实受到威胁。”
一名白宫官员告诉记者，周三的行动是“总统从第一天起就在气候问题上采取的决定性步骤的延续。”
拜登政府继续将美国电力部门转向零排放能源选择的努力，如离岸风力发电，使国家朝着正确的方向前进，但没有解决削减和减少现有化石燃料行业目前基于能源的排放的更大问题。如果不继续削减和减少目前一系列污染地区的排放，要实现拜登的气候目标，需要的不仅仅是授权可再生能源和提高建筑效率。
周三的公告发布之际，美国和世界各地的人们本周与闷热的气温搏斗。周三，灼热的气团仍然笼罩着美国大陆的大部分地区，西南和大平原上有一个高温圆顶，三位数的气温延伸到中西部和东海岸。
Biden announces executive actions on climate change that fall short of what activists want
President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced a few executive actions to address climate change, with a focus on helping Americansfacing extreme heat-- but the steps fall short of the more sweeping measures climate activists are calling for.
While Biden didn't declare a climate national emergency on Wednesday, as many activists and Democratic lawmakers encouraged him to do, he strongly suggested he would do so soon.
"Now let me be clear, climate change is an emergency and in the coming weeks, I’m going to use the power I have as president to turn these words into formal, official government actions through the appropriate proclamations, executive orders and regulatory power that the president possess," he said. "When it comes to fighting climate change I will not take no for an answer."
For now,,the directiveslargely appear to provide more funding to or otherwise strengthen existing programs.
According to the White House, the president's latest set of executive actions focus on "protecting communities facingextreme heatwith additional FY22 funding for FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program and additional guidance to support the Department of Health and Human Services Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)." The BRIC program offers funding to communities for hazard mitigation, while the LIHEAP provides low-income Americans with assistance in covering their energy costs.
Biden also announced additional actions to boost the domestic offshore wind industry.
Biden made the announcements while visiting a now-defunct coal-fired power plant, called Brayton Point, in Somerset, Massachusetts. The site is expected to be turned into a manufacturing plant that will produce transmission cables for Massachusetts' offshore wind industry, according to the White House.
"I come here today with a message," Biden said. "As president I have a responsibility to act with urgency and resolve when our nation faces clear and present danger, and that's what climate change is about."
Biden continued, "It is literally, not figuratively, a clear and present danger. The health of our citizens and our communities is literally at stake."
A White House official told reporters that Wednesday's actions are a "continuation of the decisive steps on climate that the president has taken since day one."
The Biden administration's efforts to continue to pivot the U.S. power sector toward zero-emission energy options, such as off-shore wind, move the country in the right direction but don't address the larger problem of cutting and reducing current energy-based emissions from the existing fossil fuel industry. Without continuing to cut and reduce current emissions from a range of polluting areas, it will take much more than empowering renewable energy and improving building efficiency to reach Biden's climate goals.
Wednesday's announcements come as people across the United States -- and around the world --grapple with sweltering temperatures this week. A scorching airmass remains over the majority of the continental U.S. on Wednesday, with a heat dome sitting over the Southwest and Great Plains and triple-digit temperatures stretching throughout the Midwest and up and down the East Coast.
