Declaring A Presidential Emergency On The Climate Is A Dangerous Idea

At Wednesday nights Democratic presidential debate in Atlanta, billionaire activist Tom Steyer declared himself the only person on this stage that will say climate is the number one priority.

Central to his pitch is a pledge to deploy the same sweeping White House authority President Donald Trump used, quite controversially, in February to divert resources to the border.

I would declare a state of emergency on day one, said Steyer. I would use the emergency powers of the presidency.

Steyer didnt elaborate on how he would use presidential power to fight climate change, an idea he first floated in July in his proposal to curb emissions. Its unclear whether this would mean invoking the rarely used 1976 National Emergencies Act, which grants the White House broad authorities, or using the sweeping powers the presidency has acquired since Sept. 11 to intervene on emissions.

Even in his proposals vagueness, declaring such an emergency would be a bold act one that climate, legal and political experts say could open dangerous doors and ultimately hinder long-term action to combat climate change.

Simply put, too much executive power + too much polarization = schizophrenic policies, Daniel Drezner, a professor of international politics at Tufts University, told HuffPost via email. You need Congressional buy-in for any policy to endure, and almost by definition climate change policies require sustainability.

If a future president opts for declaring a national emergency on climate, it will ironically be in part because Trump, a vocal denier of established climate science, empowered them to do so.

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