‘When it comes to fighting climate change, I won’t take no for an answer,’ says Biden while addressing climate crisis in Somerset

SOMERSET, Mass. (WLNE) — “When it comes to fighting climate change, I won’t take no for an answer,” said President Joe Biden while addressing the climate crisis in Somerset.

While visiting Brayton Point Wednesday afternoon, the president called climate change “an emergency and I will look at it that way.”

“I come here today with a message. As president, I have a responsibility to act with urgency and resolve when our nation faces clear and present danger. And that’s what climate change is about. It is literally not figuratively a clear and present danger,” Biden said.

He said extreme weather events cost the United States $14.5 billion in damages just last year.

The Democrat said that since Congress isn’t acting on this emergency, he’ll use his executive power to tackle this crisis.

The executive actions will be announced in the coming weeks, according to White House officials.

During his address, Biden said that he wants to protect communities from extreme heat, saying that “for the first time, states will be able to use federal funds to pay for AC in homes.”

In April, according to the White House, the Department of Health and Human Services contributed $358 million through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, IHEAP, to help low-income Americans with assistance covering their energy costs.

The commander-in-chief said when he thinks about climate change, “I think jobs. I think jobs,” adding that he’s pushing for wind power on the mid and southern Atlantic Coast and Florida’s Gulf Coast.

“Let’s clear the way for clean energy and connect these projects to the grid,” he said.

“We all have a duty to our economy and to our competitiveness in the world,” Biden added. “The world is counting on us.”

The trip comes as the blistering heat bakes Europe and the United States.

The former Brayton Point power plant closed in 2017 after burning coal for more than 50 years. The plant will now become an offshore wind energy site.

A new report says the U.S. and other major carbon-polluting nations are falling short on pledges to fight climate change.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.