President Joe Biden visited the Bay Area on Monday to announce a $600 million investment towards projects that boost coastal resilience and mitigate storm damage, among other climate adaptation strategies.
The president’s announcement came at Palo Alto’s Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center and Preserve, which he called a “success story” in the current push to better prepare for climate change-induced natural disasters like flooding and extreme weather.
He said the wetlands serve as a “critical buffer” between rising sea levels and at-risk communities, protecting homes and infrastructure against flooding while also absorbing carbon pollution.
The fund allocation comes as part of Biden’s “Investing in America” agenda, which is investing billions into sectors like infrastructure, clean energy, semiconductors and biotechnology.
“We’re taking the most aggressive climate action ever,” Biden said. “It’s focused on mitigation, which means historic investments in developing clean energy by reducing dependence on fossil fuels. And resilience, which means communities can better withstand the impacts of climate change and extreme weather.”
“Throughout our history, we’re the only nation in the world that has come out of every crisis we’ve entered stronger than we went into it. We’re doing it again here on the climate crisis.”
President Joe Biden
Biden noted that natural disasters cost $165 billion in America last year alone. He said much of this investment is made in the context of the Colorado River Basin crisis, and will be geared toward drought and wildfire-related disasters that are increasingly hitting the Western U.S.
“Building on our incredible efforts locally, my administration is doing all we can to help recover and build so we can be prepared and adapt,” Biden said.
“Throughout our history, we’re the only nation in the world that has come out of every crisis we’ve entered stronger than we went into it. We’re doing it again here on the climate crisis,” he added.
A recording of President Biden’s news conference can be viewed on his Facebook page.
Earlier on Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Rep. Anna Eshoo and other lawmakers greeted Biden moments after he disembarked from Air Force One at Moffett Field in Mountain View.
A Biden administration representative said Biden then went on to attend two re-election campaign fundraising events in the Bay Area, one hosted by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott in Los Gatos and another hosted by California State Controller Steve Westly in Atherton.