Current Administration’s Efforts for Sustainable America-

Despite Republican criticism over the current administration’s lack of initiative, President Barack Obama has overcome many obstacles in his goal to provide a green, sustainable future for America. As today marks the one-year anniversary for the 44th U.S. President, he remains vigilant in the fight for ecological conservation and protection by increasing gas mileage standards; rewriting environmental policies set by the Bush administration; placing carbon caps on certain industries; protecting federal forests by prohibiting logging, mining and road building in certain areas; and not to mention, offering tax incentives for commercial and residential renewable energy utilization and research. Above and beyond his conscientious standards in environmental fortification, the president has also spurred steady job growth in several renewable energy industry sectors, from green building and construction to energy audits. The Obama administration’s accomplishments are as follows:

• Introduced hard-wearing national smog standards from the EPA this month.
• Signed a bill in March adding 2.1 million new acres of federally protected wilderness, which bans logging, mining and road-building on federal forests & deserts in nine states.
• Established EPA regulations which require large U.S. ships to cut soot emissions by 85 percent.
• Amplified gas mileage standards for automobiles by 40 percent, up from today’s 25 mpg to 35 mpg by 2016.
• Signed a stimulus package that offered more than $50 billion in funding and tax credits for renewable energy projects; with billions of dollars going to supply grants to companies building solar and wind farms, weatherize federal buildings, and fund research on biofuels and other green technologies.
• Opposed Bush administration policy to open the California coast and 77 federal sites near Utah’s Arches and Canyonlands national parks to new oil & gas drilling.
• Initiated the first development of its kind, in which the EPA will confine the amount of greenhouse gases industry can release.
• Reversed Bush administration regulations allowing more snowmobiles in Yellowstone and fewer federal agency reviews of endangered species.
• Began the LEED certification process to retrofit the White House; signifying the most substantial effort by a single president to “green” the executive mansion.

In the face of constant antagonism, the current administration has achieved a good deal in developing renewable energy policies and standards; however much more needs to be realized before America will be free from the dangers of toxic waste. For example, many have voiced concerns in regards to the present state of the country’s national electricity grid, as it remains insufficient for ample storage and transmission. Additionally, mountain top removal using explosives is exceedingly common in coal mining areas because the process is more economically viable considering that less labor is required. This crude technique for coal extraction is tremendously perilous to natural surroundings, though, not only due to emissions but because it has been linked to local drinking water contamination and increased flood risk. Much policy reform in the president’s term is accredited to executive branch rules; in effect, changes can be overturned by future presidents. Furthermore, although President Obama met in Copenhagen to discuss a new global warming treaty, he neglected to achieve an arrangement with obligatory reductions.