U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney on Monday said Wyoming will lose jobs because the United States has rejoined the Paris Climate Accord.
“The Paris Accord is a bad agreement based on flawed science,” Cheney said in a statement. “It subjects the United States to unattainable requirements that will destroy jobs in Wyoming and across the country, while allowing other nations with terrible environmental track records to continue to operate without consequences.”
The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 parties in Paris in December 2015 and took effect in November 2016.
Its goal is to limit global warming during this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius — and preferably 1.5 degrees — compared to pre-industrial levels.
Former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement in 2017, a controversial move that received mixed response.
When President Joe Biden was sworn into office in January, he signed an executive order to rejoin the agreement, which became official late last week.
“President Biden’s decision to rejoin this deal is entirely motivated by politics, which provides no comfort to the American people who will lose their jobs or pay higher energy bills as a result of today’s action,” Cheney said.
According to CNN, under the Obama administration, the U.S. had pledged to slash carbon emissions by 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2025.
Biden plans to hold a climate summit of world leaders in April, where he will present the nation’s goal for reducing carbon emissions by 2030.
Many of Biden’s executive orders regarding energy in the United States have drawn harsh criticism from Wyoming officials from its congressional delegation to even Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow.
