Key environmental groups endorse Biden despite approval of fossil fuel projects
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the League of Conservation Voters annual dinner in Washington, U.S., June 14, 2023.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Four of the country’s largest environmental groups have endorsed President Joe Biden‘s reelection bid despite disapproval from climate activists over his administration’s support of fossil fuel plans, including the approval of an oil drilling project in Alaska and a natural gas pipeline in West Virginia.
The League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and NextGen America issued the unprecedented joint endorsement of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday night during the league’s annual dinner event in Washington, D.C.
Speakers for the groups applauded the White House’s climate change agenda, including the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and its $375 billion for clean energy and electric vehicles, the biggest climate bill in U.S. history. The law is projected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 1 billion tons by 2030.
Some smaller climate groups, however, are withholding their support and condemning the president for breaking his early campaign promise to end all oil and gas drilling on federal lands. The Biden administration has since mandated the sale of offshore drilling leases, sped up completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline as part of a debt limit bill and approved a controversial Alaska drilling project called Willow.
Endorsing groups said that while they’ll continue to hold the administration accountable for fossil fuel projects, having Biden for a second term is critical for progress on other climate initiatives.
Climate activists gather to protest with demanding President Biden stop the Willow Project by unfurling a banner on the Lafayette Square in front of the White House on January 10, 2023 in Washington D.C., United States.
Celal Gunes | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Group members stressed the White House has done more to address the climate crisis and environmental injustice than any administration in U.S. history, and warned the alternative could be a Republican who would approve additional fossil fuel plans and jeopardize the country’s climate progress.
“President Biden has acted courageously during a critical inflection point in the climate fight,” said Ben Jealous, national executive director of the Sierra Club. “No other administration has done more to move us forward. The stakes could not be higher and the choice could not be more clear.”
While Biden has enacted an aggressive climate agenda, he’s also taken steps to boost fossil fuel production in order to placate Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Republicans who argue the climate agenda is endangering U.S. energy security.
During the dinner, Biden touted his climate record, adding that while there are a lot of threats facing “our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren,” climate change “is the only truly existential threat.”
“If we don’t meet the requirements that we’re looking at, we’re in real trouble,” the president warned the audience. “Together, we’ve made a lot of progress so far, but we’ve got to finish the job.”
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the League of Conservation Voters annual dinner in Washington, U.S., June 14, 2023.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Biden has vowed to slash the country’s emissions in half by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. His federal agencies have proposed tougher limits on pollution from automobiles, trucks and power plants, marking the nation’s most ambitious climate regulations to date that would substantially curb emissions.
Early in office, Biden rejoined the Paris climate agreement, the landmark nonbinding accord among nations to reduce carbon emissions, and created the first-ever National Climate Task Force to implement a “whole of government” approach to mitigating climate change. His administration also vowed to deliver at least 40% of the benefits from federal investments in climate and clean energy to disadvantaged communities.
“President Biden’s climate leadership has been nothing short of historic,” Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the NRDC Action Fund, said in a statement. “His policies are already driving a heartland manufacturing renaissance with clean energy at its core, and he has worked to advance environmental justice.”
Former president Donald Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican primary field, withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate accord and weakened a slew of environmental regulations designed to reduce emissions and protect the country’s air, land and water.
The four endorsing groups collectively represent millions of members and activists in every state across the country, with campaigns that have invested millions of dollars in previous elections.
If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you combine a fruit cart, a cargo bike, and a Piaggio Ape all in one vehicle, now you’ve got your answer. I submit, for your approval, this week’s feature for the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week column – and it’s a beautiful doozie.
Feast your eyes on this salad slinging, coleslaw cruising, tuber taxiing produce chariot!
I think this electric vegetable trike might finally scratch the itch long felt by many of my readers. It seems every time I cover an electric trike, even the really cool ones, I always get commenters poo-poo-ing it for having two wheels in the rear instead of two wheels in the front. Well, here you go, folks!
Designed with two front wheels for maximum stability, this trike keeps your cucumbers in check through every corner. Because trust me, you don’t want to hit a pothole and suddenly be juggling peaches like you’re in Cirque du Soleil: Farmers Market Edition.
To avoid the extra cost of designing a linked steering system for a pair of front wheels, the engineers who brought this salad shuttle to life simply side-stepped that complexity altogether by steering the entire fixed front end. I’ve got articulating electric tractors that steer like this, and so if it works for a several-ton work machine, it should work for a couple hundred pounds of cargo bike.
Featuring a giant cargo bed up front with four cascading fruit baskets set up for roadside sales, this cargo bike is something of a blank slate. Sure, you could monetize grandma’s vegetable garden, or you could fill it with your own ideas and concoctions. Our exceedingly talented graphics wizard sees it as the perfect coffee and pastry e-bike for my new startup, The Handlebarista, and I’m not one to argue. Basically, the sky is the limit with a blank slate bike like this!
Sure, the quality doesn’t quite match something like a fancy Tern cargo bike. The rim brakes aren’t exactly confidence-inspiring, but at least there are three of them. And if they should all give out, or just not quite slow you down enough to avoid that quickly approaching brick wall, then at least you’ve got a couple hundred pounds of tomatoes as a tasty crumple zone.
The electrical system does seem a bit underpowered. With a 36V battery and a 250W motor, I don’t know if one-third of a horsepower is enough to haul a full load to the local farmer’s market. But I guess if the weight is a bit much for the little motor, you could always do some snacking along the way. On the other hand, all the pictures seem to show a non-electric version. So if this cart is presumably mobile on pedal power alone, then that extra motor assist, however small, is going to feel like a very welcome guest.
The $950 price is presumably for the electric version, since that’s what’s in the title of the listing, though I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. I’ve bought a LOT of stuff on Alibaba, including many electric vehicles, and the too-good-to-be-true price is always exactly that. In my experience, you can multiply the Alibaba price by 3-4x to get the actual landed price for things like these. Even so, $3,000-$4,000 wouldn’t be a terrible price, considering a lot of electric trikes stateside already cost that much and don’t even come with a quad-set of vegetable baskets on board!
I should also put my normal caveat in here about not actually buying one of these. Please, please don’t try to buy one of these awesome cargo e-trikes. This is a silly, tongue-in-cheek weekend column where I scour the ever-entertaining underbelly of China’s massive e-commerce site Alibaba in search of fun, quirky, and just plain awesomely weird electric vehicles. While I’ve successfully bought several fun things on the platform, I’ve also gotten scammed more than once, so this is not for the timid or the tight-budgeted among us.
That isn’t to say that some of my more stubborn readers haven’t followed in my footsteps before, ignoring my advice and setting out on their own wild journey. But please don’t be the one who risks it all and gets nothing in return. Don’t say I didn’t warn you; this is the warning.
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Environment
Podcast: Trump/GOP go after EV/solar, Tesla, Ford, GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Trump’s Big Beautiful bill becoming law and going after EVs and solar, Tesla, Ford, and GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
Today’s episode is brought to you by Bosch Mobility Aftermarket—A global leader and trusted provider of automotive aftermarket parts. To celebrate Amazon Prime Day July 8th through 11th, Bosch Mobility is offering exclusive savings on must-have auto parts and tools. Learn more here.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
- Electrek FSGP 2025: New teams, new cars, same solar spirit
- Congress votes to send 2 million US jobs to China, increase deficit, energy costs
- Tesla (TSLA) confirms 384,000 deliveries in Q2 2025, right on expectations
- Tesla prototype sparks speculation: a Model Y, maybe slightly smaller
- Tesla launches Oasis Supercharger with solar farm and off-grid batteries
- Tesla unveils its LFP battery factory, claims it’s almost ready
- Here’s why Ford’s electric vehicle sales crashed by nearly a third in Q2
- The Chevy Equinox EV is GM’s breakout star, but that’s not the only surprise
- Xpeng launches G7, a new Tesla Model Y competitor for just $27,000
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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