Obama cuts federal carbon emissions

President Barack Obama has signed another executive order mandating the reduction of carbon emissions. But critics of the president’s unilateral decisions on the environmental front will have a hard time finding a downside to this order.

The order, signed March 19, dictates that the federal government will cut its greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent over the next decade from 2008 levels and increase the share of renewable energy in the federal government’s electricity supply to 30 percent during the same period. Simultaneously, major firms that have contracts with the federal government, including Honeywell, IBM, General Electric and others, have pledged to reduce their own carbon footprint by 5 million metric tons compared to 2008 over the coming decade.

The White House asserts that it has the authority to issue executive orders such as this and to act without the express approval of Congress. But critics have challenged that contention.

The Supreme Court heard arguments last week in a case over whether the Environmental Protection Agency violated the Clean Air Act in setting limits on power plant emissions. Lawyers for industry groups and 20 states say the EPA did not include a cost-benefit analysis of the effect of the rules, and that the agency failed to consider the high costs resulting from the rules.

But the order issued this month does not appear likely to incite the same controversy. Essentially, it sets goals for the federal government, the nation’s largest energy consumer, to conserve energy, cut harmful emissions and save money.

The executive order and efforts by companies to reduce carbon emissions, taken together, would cut overall U.S. emissions by 26 million tons by 2025. That would be the equivalent of taking nearly 5.5 million cars off the roads for a year.

The new measures also are expected to save $18 billion over the next decade. That would be in addition to the $1.8 billion already saved by a 17 percent reduction in emissions by the federal government since Obama took office.

The president hopes to achieve savings in coming years by reducing energy use in federal buildings, using more carbon-free energy sources such as solar power, increasing the efficiency of the federal fleet and increasing the percentage of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in the fleet. And with 360,000 buildings, 650,000 fleet vehicles and $445 billion in spending on goods and services, the impact of this order could be enormous.

Obama noted that this effort will demonstrate that the U.S. can successfully grow the economy and act responsibly regarding the environment at the same time. He also said it is important for the U.S. to lead by example, especially in regard to asking other nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions.

It is unfortunate that the president has had to resort to using executive orders to tackle environmental concerns. Comprehensive legislation passed by Congress would be preferable.

But a large contingent in Congress, including a significant number who deny that climate change is real, have stymied efforts to enact meaningful legislation to reduce carbon emissions. That has left Obama little choice but to act on his own if he hopes to address environmental issues and demonstrate to the world that the nation is capable of taking action.

But it’s hard to see how anyone could object to the latest order. Who wouldn’t like to see less pollution while saving the nation $18 billion?

This story was originally published March 29, 2015 at 7:41 PM with the headline "Obama cuts federal carbon emissions."