President Joe Biden has rolled out a series of executive orders and legislative plans aimed at addressing the coronavirus pandemic and dismantling many of President Donald Trump's policies on climate and immigration. CU Boulder researchers are available to discuss the significance and impact of these executive decisions.
This list will be updated as new experts become available.
Climate orders
Alice Madden, executive director of the University of Colorado Law School’s Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment, can discuss the Biden administration’s efforts to reverse Trump administration rollbacks of environmental protections. She can also discuss likely new climate policies and politics.
Patty Limerick, faculty director and chair of the board of the Center of the American West, can discuss how President Biden’s executive orders on climate could undermine the West’s heavy reliance on coal, oil and natural gas production on federal land. Availability is limited, advance notice required.
Paul Sutter is a history professor who specializes in U.S. and global environmental history. He can speak about the historical significance of the several climate-focused executive orders that President Biden has signed into law.
Mark Squillace, professor of natural resources law, can discuss the impact of the Biden administration’s recent executive orders and other actions on public lands, oil and gas and mining and water resources. He previously worked as a lawyer at the Department of the Interior, including a stint at the end of the Clinton administration when he worked for Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt on a wide range of legal and policy issues.
FEMA
Lori Peek, a professor of sociology and director of the Natural Hazards Center, can discuss the Biden administration’s plans to direct up to $10 billion in Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) funds toward preventing natural disasters.
COVID-19 orders
Dan Larremore, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and BioFrontiers Institute, can discuss Biden’s plans to increase testing and vaccine availability. Under a new executive order, Biden created a position of COVID-19 response coordinator to oversee distribution of tests and vaccines. In a new paper in Science, Larremore explored how different vaccine distribution plans would impact mortality.
Immigration
Ming Hsu Chen is an associate professor and faculty director of Colorado Law’s Immigration and Citizenship Law program. She can discuss the significance of President Biden’s recent executive orders on immigration, the census count and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy.