The White House Is Going To Ask Congress For A $1 Billion Climate Resilience Fund
The White House Is Going To Ask Congress For A $1 Billion Climate Resilience Fund
By Jeff Spross
During a tour of drought-stricken California on Friday, President Obama will ask Congress to establish a $1 billion Climate Resilience Fund, Politico reports.
The proposal will be included in Obamas 2015 budget, scheduled to be released next month. The fund is separate from the Presidents broader climate action plan, in that it does not rely exclusively on executive authority and must be passed by Congress. Its goal will be to drive new technologies and forms of infrastructure to prepare for increased extreme weather and the other effects of climate change, to aid communities preparing for those challenges, and to add to the ongoing research into climate changes impacts.
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That Obama will make the announcement today in California is appropriate, as the state has been wracked by massive droughts for the last few years. While no one weather event can be tied directly to climate change just as no one home run can be tied directly to steroid use the shifting climate patterns driven by global warming drive up the overall
odds of extreme weather events.
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The Obama Administration will also announce $15 million in conservation assistance for the areas hit the hardest by the drought, $5 million in emergency watershed protection aimed at protecting vulnerable soil in California, as well as other efforts to combat the drought throughout the state.
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http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/02/14/3293491/obama-climate-resilience-fund/