President Biden campaigned on promises to restore many of the environmental regulations rolled back by the previous administration, while promising new efforts to tackle environmental injustice and climate change.
The Washington Post recently published a feature to document the regulatory accomplishments of the first year-and-a-half of the Biden administration, after President Biden campaigned on “greater sense of urgency” in the federal government’s efforts on climate change. The Post’s tally of Biden’s environmental accomplishments totals 51 environmental policies added and 43 proposed.
Meanwhile, the tally of the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back environmental regulations totals: 81 overturned, 91 targeted, and 59 not targeted.
Among the overturned Trump administration-era environmental regulations noted by Planetizen in recent months are a weakened “Waters of the United States” rules, weakened auto emissions standards, and the decision to remove the country from the Paris Climate Accords.
“[T]he story of Biden’s first year in office is one not just of doing, but undoing,” according to the article, written by Juliet Eilperin, Brady Dennis, and John Muyskens.
A lot more details of Biden’s environmental track record can be found in the source article linked below.
Read the full story: Tracking Biden’s environmental actions
Biden's Climate Plan Centers Environmental Justice
The Biden administration's climate plan calls for sweeping reform in the country's energy policy and places new focus on addressing racial and economic disparities.
21 Climate Resilience Projects Cancelled by the EPA
The federal government has pulled funding for at least 21 projects related to farming, food systems, and environmental justice to comply with one of Trump’s early executive orders.
USDOT Launches Climate Adaptation Plan
The plan outlines the department’s key priorities in building resilient infrastructure and ensuring environmental justice in historically disinvested communities.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
Nation's most wind-powered state turns to coal as data centers increase energy demand
For the first time in decades, Iowa has increased its generation of coal power.
NYC cools commuters with city's first rain garden above a bus stop
New York City officials say the plants in the rain garden can absorb 16 gallons of rainwater during heavy storms.
Brightline West’s future may rely on $6 billion federal loan
The company has until Nov. 2 to make a $400 million equity investment into its proposed high-speed rail line.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Greater Baltimore Committee
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association