In his inaugural address, Obama announced his intentions for action on climate change. Obama's covert plans for climate

President Barack Obama got green hearts fluttering when he devoted more time to climate change than any other single issue during his inaugural address.

But don’t expect a climate crusade. It’s more like covert action.


There are no plans to enlist Al Gore or other rock stars of the environmental movement for a public campaign on the dangers of global warming. Don’t expect to see a new cap-and-trade bill.

( Also on POLITICO: Boxer targets energy efficiency)

He’ll have rookies in key Cabinet posts — the EPA, Interior and possibly Energy. And Republicans — and even some Democrats — have made clear there’s no political will for sweeping national policy shifts.

Energy insiders say the White House will dribble out executive actions and federal rules over the next four years — the same low-key, bureaucratic approach the administration has taken since 2009.

While it's not a moon shot, the piecemeal strategy can achieve real results in reducing America's carbon footprint, even if it doesn't hold a candle to the type of climate bill that failed in 2010 and would have almost no chance of passage in the Republican-controlled House now.

“I think he is serious about making an effort,” said Billy Pizer, a former top Obama energy aide at the Treasury Department. “Real estate in major speeches is valuable.”

Another senior Obama administration official agreed.

"He led off with climate change. I don’t think you can ask for more than that,” said the official, who also urged caution about not expecting too much too soon. “A little bit of patience is warranted, but there has been a lot of strategy work going on.”

The perils of tackling climate change for Obama have been present since his first presidential campaign, when he declared during his speech declaring victory for the Democratic nomination that “this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.”

But as Obama has learned since then, he can’t exactly craft climate change polices that will produce results so easily seen. Politically, it makes what he’s doing an easy target for his opponents.

On top of that, anything Obama does to change the nation’s energy mix likely will mean political benefits years from now — when someone else is in the Oval Office to reap the rewards. Consider, for example, how two major fuel economy agreements that Obama’s team negotiated with the auto companies will ultimately lead to auto fleets reaching nearly 55 miles per gallon — in 2025.

“This is going to be on every president’s agenda for all time,” said Tom Strickland, the former chief of staff to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Most important, EPA will be rolling out standards for new power plants beneficial to natural gas and that would essentially ban construction of new coal units. A second set of rules is also coming for aging electric utilities. There’s no schedule yet for finishing either set of regulations, though a senior Obama administration official said there’s reason to stretch it out to force opponents to the table.

“In some ways, the longer this discussion goes on, the louder it is, the higher likelihood it is you get an agreement,” the senior administration official said.

Obama also has options for expanding the use of federal lands for renewables, appliance efficiency standards and working to craft an adaptation strategy that can help vulnerable communities prepare for rising sea levels and more intense storm surges. There are policies for dealing with pollutants other than carbon dioxide, like methane and soot, which can be sped up. On the international stage, U.S. diplomats are working with other countries including China to reach a broad agreement by the end of 2015.

Some of these approaches may sound like small ball compared with cap-and-trade legislation, which puts Obama in something of a bind with the left as he weighs whether to permit the Keystone pipeline. The 120-year-old Sierra Club has already announcing plans for civil disobedience ahead of a ruling.

“The president has got to do everything he can,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who plans to introduce a carbon tax proposal next month that’s unlikely to win backing from the White House.

“If we don’t get our act together, we can expect to be voting on bills like this every single year,” Sanders added Tuesday as the Senate considered the House-passed $50 billion aid bill for victims of Hurricane Sandy.

House Republicans present Obama with another big obstacle after spending the last 18 months trying to embarrass his White House over its handling of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal loan guarantees lost on solar panel maker Solyndra. Investigations over the next four years plan to continue to focus on EPA regulations for climate change, said Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Energy and Power Subcommittee.

“So it will be essential to appoint someone at EPA who can take the heat,” said Jody Freeman, a former White House attorney on energy and environmental issues, referring to Obama’s upcoming nomination replacing outgoing Administrator Lisa Jackson.

Across Capitol Hill, even some of the more moderate GOP voices on environmental issues are staying away from Obama when it comes to climate change.

“It’s not at the top of my list,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), an electric car advocate who co-chaired Monday’s inaugural celebration.

Alexander said he’d be open to working on climate change if the solutions included expanded nuclear power and gas plants, plus incentives to make carbon pollution from power plants commercially viable. But he wasn’t buying Obama’s calls to get moving on the issue.

“I’m sure he was sincere about it, but he offered a litany of proposals that have very little chance of making much progress and that’s one of them,” Alexander said.

Sen. John McCain, a former cap-and-trade proponent who often tried to score political points by slamming George W. Bush for weak climate policies, said he’s got other priorities this year, starting with immigration.

“He said he’s going to lead on” climate, McCain told POLITICO. “So if he’s going to lead, he’s president. In the case of President Bush, he didn’t choose to lead.”

But McCain left himself a little room for compromise, saying he'll wait for his 2008 White House rival to get more specific about his climate plans before staking out solid ground.

“I’m concerned about the issue and have been concerned about the issue,” the Arizona Republican said. “He’s the president. He just won reelection. We’re going to have to obviously listen carefully to what he has to say.”

Current and former Obama aides insist that the agenda going forward will include big things on climate.

Former White House energy adviser Carol Browner said Obama has “consistently identified addressing climate change as a priority” and noted a number of his first-term accomplishments, including the new fuel economy standards for cars and trucks and doubling renewable energy production.

“There’s no reason to think he’s not preparing to take similar bold steps to build on his record and his comments in the inaugural address,” she said.

Browner also said she’s holding out hope that Obama could make progress on Capitol Hill on a “common-sense bipartisan energy and climate plan if the Congress were to consider one.”

Absent progress on the Hill and in conjunction with EPA's regulations, several sources said they could envision Obama trying to broker a deal with power companies to clamp down on their greenhouse gas emissions. But a big hurdle will be overcoming big differences among power companies that use a variety of fuels, from coal to natural gas to nuclear to renewables.

“I think that’s totally reasonable,” said a senior Obama administration official. “There’s going to be lots of conversations. The million dollar question is whether the industry is actually going to want to participate or are they going to start to want to play hard ball.”

Nikki Roy, of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions and a facilitator of past private talks with power companies, noted the industry “needs certainty” on the regulatory landscape ahead. “They need to build facilities that’ll last 30, 40, 50 years,” he said. “I don’t think it’s ridiculous. I hope it’s one thing the administration tries.”

Roy also said he doesn’t expect Obama to roll out his entire climate agenda at once. “It seems to me they’re trying to stay in control of the pacing and the narrative. It’s a complicated question on the timing of these various decisions,” he said. "But I do have more confidence after Monday that they are going to be looking for those options to weave climate into that broader narrative.”

In his inaugural, Obama pledged to respond to climate change “knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations.”

But he may have given the best hint of what he sees as possible on climate change through another line in his inaugural that addressed his entire agenda.

“We must act, we must act knowing that our work will be imperfect,” he said. “We must act, knowing that today’s victories will be only partial, and that it will be up to those who stand here in four years, and 40 years, and 400 years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed an Obama quote to his first inaugural address when he gave the comment in June 2008 while declaring victory for the Democratic nomination.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 7:04 p.m. on January 23, 2013.

CORRECTION: Corrected by: Nick Gass @ 01/23/2013 09:23 PM An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed an Obama quote to his first inaugural address when he gave the comment in June 2008 while declaring victory for the Democratic nomination.