WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden told an audience of conservation and environmental groups Wednesday that their work has never been more important as they fight the greatest threat to future generations. .
Speaking at the League of Conservation Voters’ annual Capital dinner, Biden told the supportive audience that there were “many threats to our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren” but that change climate “is the only truly existential threat”.
He said members of the public and his administration had done a good job in dealing with the threat, but everyone had to “finish the job”.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were endorsed by four environmental and conservation groups at the dinner: the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, NextGen PAC, NRDC Action Fund and the Sierra Club. Speakers from the organizations hailed the Biden-Harris team as the administration that has done the most to fight climate change.
In previous comments, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was honored by the League with its lifetime achievement award, told the audience that she fights for democracy with her environmental efforts.
“What you have done is the highest of patriotism, democracy in action. The story of America is the story of ordinary Americans coming together, raising their collective voices.
Biden touted a number of administration achievements, including the Cut Inflation Act and his $375 billion for clean energy, the biggest climate law in history. He drew cheers from the crowd as he toured areas designated as protected under his administration, as well as when he spoke about the decree he signed in April targeting investments in disadvantaged communities facing pollution.
Despite the endorsement and list of accomplishments and the lack of visible protests at the dinner, the administration’s recent moves have given the president a more mixed legacy and earned him criticism from environmentalists and Democrats, though this was not evident during the event. These decisions include the administration’s approval of Project Willow, a large-scale oil drilling project in Alaska, and the inclusion of the Mountain Valley pipeline in West Virginia in the inescapable debt limit package the president negotiated. with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.