President-elect Joe Biden's selection of Pete Buttigieg as his nominee for secretary of transportation is about more than planes, trains and automobiles. It's about climate change, an issue that the incoming president is weaving throughout his emerging administration.
As transportation secretary, Buttigieg will address the "existential threat of climate change with jobs," Biden stated recently. "When I think of climate change, I think about jobs, good-paying union jobs," Biden said. "Jobs that put Americans to work, making our air cleaner for our kids to breathe, restoring our crumbling roads, bridges and ports, making it faster, cheaper and cleaner to transport American-made goods all across the country and the world."
Buttigieg noted his commitment to the "security of the climate" and remarked on the intersection of transportation with the environment. "At its best, transportation makes the American dream possible," Buttigieg said, connecting people and neighborhoods and allowing goods to be transported efficiently. But when not administered fairly, transportation policy "can reinforce racial, economic and environmental injustice," Buttigieg said.
His appointment was lauded by environmentalists, who noted Buttigieg's past attention to the issue. As mayor, Buttigieg initiated a "smart streets" program to make the downtown more pedestrian- and bicyclist-friendly.
"The Department of Transportation wields enormous power in the fight against climate change, as the transportation sector generates the most carbon emissions. President-elect Joe Biden's decision to put climate champion Pete Buttigieg at the helm is a clear indication of the administration's commitment to reducing emissions and modernizing our infrastructure, all while creating millions of good paying, clean energy jobs," Lori Lodes, executive director of Climate Power 2020, said in a statement. "As mayor of South Bend, Buttigieg confronted the devastation of climate change and rebuilt the community. He has the bold and innovative leadership necessary to deliver the clean energy future laid out in Biden's Build Back Better plan."