From water pollution to increasingly fierce wildfires, President Joe Biden took office after years of worsening environmental problems. In December 2020, U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Environment America Research & Policy Center released a report, First Things to Fix, identifying five actions the Biden administration could set in motion on day one to protect the environment. The organizations also identified 15 additional actions that would have a significant impact on conserving our natural spaces, cleaning up our air and water, and combating the climate crisis.
Our progress report finds that despite the need to rebuild many federal agencies and tackle the COVID-19 crisis, the Biden administration has already taken steps to restore many key environmental protections. And, President Biden has made bold strides to safeguard our lands and oceans, get the lead out of drinking water, go big on offshore wind and more. However, of our initial list of 20 near-term actions, only one is complete: Rejoining the Paris climate accord.
The Biden administration’s agenda for the next 100 days should continue to focus on undoing the many harmful Trump administration rollbacks by restoring popular environmental policies listed below.