What will happen to the top environmental and health issues Biden won’t finish?

The Biden administration intends to leave unfinished several important environmental and health protections it has previously unveiled — from protecting workers from heat to restrictions on toxic chemicals.

The fate of many of these regulations likely hinges on the outcome of the November election, as the Harris administration is likely to pursue them while the Trump administration is unlikely to.

While even ready-made regulations could be vulnerable to attacks by the new administration, undoing the progress the Biden administration has made on climate and health could take a long process and extensive scrutiny.

However, regulations that have not yet been implemented may simply be abandoned.

The Biden administration has taken significant steps to combat climate change and improve environmental health, including enacting billions of dollars for climate-friendly energy through the Inflation Reduction Act and legislation to limit global warming and toxic emissions from a variety of sources.

But it hasn’t achieved everything it set out to do — and likely won’t before President Biden’s term ends in January.

Here’s a list of unfinished business he most likely left behind.

Thermal protection for employees

One major item that likely won’t get done this term is Biden’s effort to protect workers from extreme heat. His administration announced in 2021 that it planned to require companies to provide workers with such protections, but didn’t propose doing so until this year.

The proposed rules would require companies to provide workers with access to water and breaks during periods of high temperatures. Those breaks would have to include access to shade or air conditioning for workers working outside, or cooler areas with fans, ventilation or air conditioning for workers working inside.

However, with time running out until the January inauguration, there is no time left to finish the government before Biden leaves office.

“The rulemaking process can take years and, in many cases, multiple administrations. We are proud to be one step closer to helping indoor and outdoor workers secure the heat protection they need,” a Department of Labor spokesman said in an email.

But Juley Fulcher, a worker health and safety advocate at the group Public Citizen, said that if former President Trump is elected and doesn’t support the unfinished rule, his administration could “very easily just shelve it.”

“Workers are dying from this, and it’s only getting worse as we see the summers getting hotter and longer,” Fulcher said. “We’re talking about a very real danger, and workers are suffering, and without any federal protections — that puts a lot of workers in harm’s way.”

Emission restrictions from gas-fired power plants

The Biden administration also rejected a major part of one of its landmark climate regulations.

Last year, it proposed caps on greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal-fired power stations, new gas-fired power stations and, for the first time, some existing gas-fired power stations.

However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finally lifted restrictions on existing gas-fired power plants, stating that climate standards for these power generators would be set in separate regulations.

At this point, implementing such a rule seems like a daunting task that will likely have to be left to the next administration.

Trump has said he will roll back the Biden administration’s existing power plant rules, calling it part of an “un-American energy crusade,” so it is highly unlikely he will take any further steps if re-elected.

Chemical Restrictions ‘Forever’

The third policy Biden is unlikely to be able to enact is an attempt to limit the release of toxic chemicals known as PFAS.

PFAS, which stands for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, is a class of thousands of chemicals whose uses include making products nonstick and waterproof. Exposure to the toxic substances, which have become widespread in the environment and in the bodies of Americans, has been linked to health problems, including cancer.

In 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice announcing plans to set limits on the amount of PFAS that companies that produce the substances can emit. But it has not yet proposed a rule on the matter, let alone finalized one.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set limits on PFAS in drinking water earlier this year, requiring water suppliers to filter them, but that rule did not take into account current emissions.

“There’s been so much PFAS released over the last 60, 70 years that because they’re persistent chemicals, they’re still in the environment and we shouldn’t be contributing to that problem,” said Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group.

“Stopping PFAS at the source is really one of the most important things any administration can do … to try to mitigate the PFAS crisis,” Benesh said.

An EPA spokesman said the agency is “focused on developing and implementing policies that will stand the test of time” and that are “based on the best available science and engineering data and are informed by robust and inclusive stakeholder engagement.”

What would a Harris or Trump administration do?

The Harris campaign did not respond to The Hill’s question about whether Vice President Harris would continue to use these protections if she wins the presidential election, though her campaign’s policy positions appear to be largely aligned with Biden’s.

The same question was asked, but the Trump campaign did not address the specific provisions The Hill asked about. However, spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a written statement that Trump will “make America energy independent again, lower prices for American consumers, and drill, baby, drill!”

In addition to the legislation already proposed, climate activists have also called for even greater climate action.

Craig Segall, vice president of climate organization Evergreen, told The Hill that the next administration should do more to accelerate the decarbonization of transportation and industry.

“We’ve taken a lot of steps to start putting money into demonstration projects, to rebuild manufacturing in the country,” Segall said. “That’s all great, but what’s really important now is that we have federal standards that are really driving the decarbonization of our industry.”

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