Politics

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden met virtually with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin Thursday after Martin tested positive for COVID-19, scrambling holiday plans in Washington and hopes that St. Patrick’s Day traditions would return in-person after two years.

“I’m really, deeply sorry for the inconvenience, that we have to meet virtually again this year — although I did at a little distance for seven-and-a-half minutes get to see you yesterday and your beautiful wife, but especially after flying all the way here to Washington, with a lot going on up in the Hill and the rest,” Biden said, speaking to the Taoiseach over video, seated next to a screen in the Oval Office.

Biden said the two leaders were meeting “in a moment when demands on unity in the world are really accelerating.”

Martin, who has isolated across the street from the White House at the Blair House, where the Irish flag is on display, used his positive diagnosis to promote vaccinations.

“Last year, we met virtually across the Atlantic. This year, we’re meeting virtually across the road, so we’re getting closer,” he joked. “But I’m feeling good, and I think that reminds us of the importance of vaccines, and, cause vaccines prevent severe illness. And that it reminds us that central message we give the people: get vaccinated if you’re not vaccinated.”

Biden, known to tout his Irish heritage, was set to host Martin for a traditional bilateral meeting and Shamrock handover, an Oval Office tradition to mark St. Patrick’s Day dating back to 1952, but the event took place virtually, as they were forced to do last year in the pandemic when the UK was under travel restrictions.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was seated next to Martin at Wednesday’s Ireland Funds 30th National Gala, when he learned of his positive result over a course of appetizers, but she is still moving forward with her plans to host the Annual “Friends of Ireland” luncheon on Capitol Hill, which Martin had been scheduled to attend.

Pelosi tested negative this morning with a PCR test administered by the Capitol attending physician, according to a source familiar.

“In consultation with the Office of Attending Physician, the Speaker will continue regular testing and follow CDC guidance. The Friends of Ireland Lunch today will proceed but without the participation of the Taoiseach,” her office said in a statement to ABC News.

Asked if she had any concerns for her health, Pelosi told reporters Thursday, “No, I don’t, but I get tested almost every day.”

“The Taoiseach had on a mask when he sat down but then when he started to eat, he took off the mask, and then it was right during the appetizer, they pulled him aside. We didn’t know why. But then, sometime later, when it was my turn to speak, they told how we would proceed, that he would not be speaking,” Pelosi explained during her weekly press conference.

Biden also spoke at the gala, but the White House said he was not deemed a close contact of Martin. While the president’s plans to meet Martin in the Oval Office are shot, Biden is still scheduled to attend Pelosi’s luncheon on the Hill.

“I think we, Irish, are the only people in the world who actually are nostalgic for the future,” Biden joked at Wednesday’s gala, with Martin in the audience. “But, of course, that means dealing with the present. At this time, in our time, we’ve seen more change and challenge, I believe, than any time in generations.”

Biden, 79, tested negative for COVID late last year after he was in close contact with an aide that tested positive. An aide of Pelosi’s, 81, tested positive last summer, but her spokesperson said the aide had not been in close contact with the speaker since the exposure. Both Biden and Pelosi are fully vaccinated and boosted.

The Taoiseach’s positive test rocking Washington comes as the nation largely eases COVID restrictions like mask mandates and as the White House shifts its messaging from mitigating the virus to living with it.

To that end, the White House announced Thursday morning that COVID response coordinator Jeff Zients will be replaced in April by Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, who has taken on a prominent role on television networks communing the pandemic to Americans.

Jha signaled that the role will be less about vaccine distribution and more about preparing for a future of living with the virus — but he takes on the position with little political experience, at a time when the White House desperately needs Congressional funding to be prepared, and faces the prospect of dealing with a potential new surge from the BA.2 variant.

On Thursday, Pelosi expressed her anger and disappointment over Congress’ inability to pass additional COVID relief funding after House Democrats were forced to strip $15.6 billion from the spending bill last week over concerns about how the bill would be paid for. Republicans don’t think there is a need for additional funding, and Democrats don’t want that funding to be offset by cutting into other programs.

“With all the protections of the Taoiseach of Ireland, he gets a positive diagnosis. Barack Obama, the former president of the United States, has a positive indication. What chance does a poor person with a big family, living in a small apartment working in a situation that may or may not be safe…?” Pelosi said Thursday, following a meeting with Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Pelosi has been fuming that members of her own party held up passage of the COVID funding last week, sources familiar told ABC News.

“I think we need all the money we can get, to have the resources that we need to fight COVID,” she added. “The last thing we need is another variant.”

Just this week, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff tested positive for COVID, marking the first time a member of the first or second families shared a positive test result. Former President Barack Obama, who also shares an Irish heritage with Biden, also announced he tested positive for COVID one day prior.

ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett, Oren Oppenheim, Chad Murray and Mariam Khan contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Congress is addressing campus security at historically Black colleges and universities in the wake of dozens of high-profile bomb threats.

The House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties will hold a hearing Thursday featuring HBCU students alongside FBI and Department of Education officials.

The hearing aims to explore how the government can help to improve institution security and prevent domestic terrorism.

“In one threatening call targeting Spelman College, an HBCU for women in Atlanta, a caller claimed they had singled out that school for one reason: ‘there are too many Black students in it,'” said Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Sen. Carolyn B. Maloney in her opening statement.

The campuses of at least 36 HBCUs, as well as other universities, have been targeted and at least 18 of these colleges and universities were targeted on Feb. 1 — the first day of Black History Month.

More than one-third of the nation’s 101 historically Black academic institutions have been threatened.

The FBI announced that the threats were being investigated as “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism and hate crimes” and stated that the investigation was of the “highest priority.”

No bombs have been found on any of the campuses. Several persons of interest have been identified, according to the FBI, but no one has been arrested.

“These reprehensible threats against Black institutions echo the tactics employed by the Ku Klux Klan and others decades ago as they tried to instill terror in the Black community and prevent Black Americans from gaining civil rights,” Maloney added.

These threats came as hate crimes against Black Americans are on the rise, increasing by nearly 50% between 2019 and 2020, according to the FBI.

“It is imperative that law enforcement agencies prioritize holding perpetrators accountable and working to keep campuses safe—while also pursuing a broader strategy to address the rising tide of violent white supremacy in this country,” Maloney said.

Vice President Kamala Harris announced Wednesday that targeted HBCUs will be eligible for new grant funding for additional campus security tools.

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have also met with HBCU leaders on tools they can use to strengthen campus safety.

“HBCUs matter, and every HBCU student matters,” Maloney said. “That is why we must do everything possible to support them, especially when they are threatened or attacked.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — At her Senate confirmation hearing next week, Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson will face calls to recuse herself from one of the first major cases she would hear as a justice: a challenge to Harvard University’s use of race as a factor in undergraduate admissions.

Jackson, an alumna of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, currently sits on the university’s Board of Overseers that “provides counsel to the University’s leadership on priorities, plans, and strategic initiatives,” according to its website.

The justices this fall are slated to hear a challenge to the school’s admissions policy brought by a group of Asian American students that alleges they were illegally targeted and rejected at a disproportionately higher rate because of their race. The case could determine the fate of affirmative action policies nationwide.

“It would be profoundly inappropriate for a jurist to sit on a case for a school in which she has held a governing position and a role in setting institutional policies,” George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley wrote in a column this month. “For that reason, Jackson will be asked in her confirmation hearing to confirm whether she will recuse herself from the Harvard case.”

It could also provide an opening for Republicans to raise sensitive issues of race, opposition to affirmative action in general, and President Joe Biden’s pledge to prioritize race and gender in his high court pick.

“I expect one of the first questions at this hearing to be: You are highly qualified, but a lot of other highly qualified people weren’t considered for this job because of their race. Would you think that was lawful if it happened at a private employer?” said Sarah Isgur, a former Trump Justice Department lawyer and ABC News contributor.

Jackson’s six-year Harvard board term concludes on May 26, a school spokesman said. Supreme Court oral arguments in the school’s case would be heard several months later.

Federal law stipulates that federal judges must recuse themselves from cases whenever their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned” or when “the judge has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party, or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding.”

Enforcement of the rules on the Supreme Court is by honor system, leaving it to each justice individually to decide when it’s appropriate to recuse from a case. Those decisions are rarely explained.

“Six years on the Board is a long time, and her impartiality in the case — that is, in favor of Harvard, given her ties to the Board — might be reasonably questioned,” said Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix the Court, a nonpartisan judicial watchdog group. “I think that balancing these factors, it’d be prudent for her to recuse, though it’s not as clear cut as some pundits have made it out to be.”

Board involvement in setting admissions policy, including potential consideration of race as a factor, and in guiding the school’s response to the lawsuit is not clear. A university spokesman declined to comment.

“As I understand it, the Board of Overseers is not a policymaking body and does not make admissions decisions or policies, nor are its members in a fiduciary relationship with the university,” said Stephen Gillers, an expert in legal ethics at NYU School of Law. “Recusal would not be necessary, even if Judge Jackson were still a board member when the case is heard.”

Judge Jackson, who is a member of the board’s executive committee, has not publicly addressed the apparent potential conflict or possible recusal from the Harvard case.

Former Democratic Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama, who is shepherding Jackson through the confirmation process, declined to say whether recusal has been discussed.

“That’s a question that she’ll answer once she gets at the confirmation hearings, rather than me trying to answer for her,” Jones told ABC.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates told ABC News “Judge Jackson would follow the highest ethical standards when it comes to recusals.”

As a U.S. District Court judge, Jackson removed herself from at least two cases involving Harvard University, according to her written responses to a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire this month.

In 2016, she recused herself from a case involving the Education Department’s sexual assault guidelines for colleges and universities because the Harvard Board of Overseers was “evaluating its own potential response to those guidelines.” In 2018, Jackson stepped aside in a case involving a Harvard research librarian who was suing the Environmental Protection Agency over a Freedom of Information Act request.

“For similar reasons – even if Jackson resigns from the Board – she may need to recuse from the [affirmative action] case because she ‘has personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding,’ as described in the federal statute governing judicial disqualification,” said Carrie Severino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative legal advocacy group with influence among Republican senators.

Isgur said an apparent conflict of interest is already evident.

“She’s been on the Harvard Board of Overseers for five years — that’s from the start of this litigation through the discovery process. The likelihood that she hasn’t discussed the case while on that Board is very, very low,” Isgur observed.

Jackson would become the fifth graduate of Harvard Law School on the nation’s highest court if she’s confirmed, though legal analysts noted that simply being an alumnus of the school did not alone create an ethics issue.

“Her being a graduate won’t be a problem at all,” said Cardozo School of Law professor and ABC News legal analyst Kate Shaw. “If it were, there’d be several other recusals. But it might be prudent for her to resign from that board prior to joining the Supreme Court, which I think would resolve any conflict.”

The Harvard case and a related suit against the University of North Carolina will be argued together at the Supreme Court sometime in October or November. Many court watchers believe the conservative majority will move to roll back, or outright ban, the use of race in admissions.

The cases will be the first test on affirmative action for the six-justice conservative majority since the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy and death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, both of whom defended the policy.

Judge Jackson’s views are not clear, but an examination of her jurisprudence suggests she would likely be in tandem with the court’s liberal wing.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — In a White House list of weapons being sent to Ukraine as part of a new $800 million military support package announced by President Joe Biden Wednesday — among nearly 10,000 anti-armor weapons, 800 anti-aircraft Stinger systems, and thousands of rifles — appeared 100 “tactical unmanned aerial systems.”

But these aren’t the large U.S. drones you’re used to seeing.

The 100 unmanned systems heading to Ukraine are actually small “Switchblade” drones, a U.S. official told ABC News.

Unlike long-range Predator drones, which look similar to small planes and fire missiles at targets, the smallest Switchblade model fits in a rucksack and flies directly into targets to detonate its small warhead.

Less than 2-feet long and weighing only 5.5 pounds, the Switchblade 300 can be launched from a small tube that resembles a mortar, after which it can fly for up to 15 minutes. The larger Switchblade 600 is effective against armored targets and can fly for more than 40 minutes, but weighs 50 pounds, according to the manufacturer.

The U.S. official could not say whether one or both of the systems would be included in the 100 units destined for Ukraine.

Both Switchblades use onboard sensors and GPS to guide them to their targets. Both also have a “wave-off” feature so that human operators can abort an attack if civilians appear near the target or if the enemy withdraws.

“These were designed for U.S. Special Operations Command and are exactly the type of weapons systems that can have an immediate impact on the battlefield,” said Mick Mulroy, former deputy assistant secretary of defense and an ABC News national security and defense analyst.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Congress is set to address security at historically Black colleges and universities in the wake of dozens of high-profile bomb threats.

The House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties will hold a hearing Thursday featuring HBCU students alongside FBI and Department of Education officials.

The hearing aims to explore how the government can help to improve campus security and prevent domestic terrorism.

The campuses of at least 36 HBCUs, as well as other universities, have been targeted and at least 18 of these colleges and universities were targeted on Feb. 1 — the first day of Black History Month.

More than one-third of the nation’s 101 historically Black academic institutions have been threatened.

The FBI announced that the threats were being investigated as “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism and hate crimes” and stated that the investigation was of the “highest priority.”

No bombs have been found on any of the campuses. Several persons of interest have been identified, according to the FBI, but no one has been arrested.

These threats came as hate crimes against Black Americans are on the rise, increasing by nearly 50% between 2019 and 2020, according to the FBI.

Vice President Kamala Harris announced Wednesday that targeted HBCUs will be eligible for new grant funding for additional campus security tools.

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have also met with HBCU leaders on tools they can use to strengthen campus safety.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Hours after an emotional address to Congress by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, where he pleaded for a no-fly zone and more lethal U.S. aid, President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced the U.S. is increasing its supply of missiles, firearms, and now drones to Ukraine in a public display.

The White House has now detailed exactly what weaponry the U.S. is providing — when just weeks ago U.S. officials refused to say.

The message is meant to not only reassure Ukraine of strong U.S. support, but also send a message to Moscow that it will pay a bloody price for its invasion of its neighbor.

“The American people are answering President Zelenskyy’s call for more help, more weapons for Ukraine to defend itself, more tools to fight Russian aggression, and that’s what we’re doing,” Biden said in an address Wednesday.

That increase comes after intense pressure from Kyiv, as well as Washington, where lawmakers of both parties have urged Biden to escalate U.S. military support.

But the president has repeatedly cautioned against crossing certain lines, saying they would lead to “World War III.” Among them, the administration has ruled out implementing a no-fly zone, sending U.S. troops into Ukrainian territory, or having the U.S. directly provide Soviet-era warplanes from NATO allies like Poland.

Instead, Biden said that an initial tranche of $800 million — from the nearly $14 billion Congress approved in humanitarian and military aid for Ukraine — would include 800 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, 100 Switchblade drones, and 9,000 anti-armor missiles, including 2,000 Javelin anti-tank missiles.

The Switchblade drone is the newest form of lethal assistance — a small kamikaze-style drone launched from a tube that can track and attack armored targets.

Ukrainian armed forces have made powerful use of drones in their fight against invading Russian forces already, although some military analysts say the Switchblade is not powerful enough and the U.S. isn’t sending enough of them.

“The Switchblade is a capable system, but has its drawbacks compared to some more modern versions of ‘loitering munitions’… that you can return to base and re-use,” said retired Gen. Robert Abrams, former chief of U.S. Forces Korea and now an ABC News analyst.

To date, Ukraine has received thousands of Javelin missiles from the U.S. and other NATO allies, according to a U.S. official — including approximately 2,600 from the U.S., the White House announced Wednesday.

Javelins were once seen as too escalatory by the Obama administration to provide Ukraine after Russia first invaded its smaller, democratic neighbor in 2014, seizing the Crimean Peninsula and sparking a separatist war in the eastern provinces Donetsk and Luhansk.

Now, the White House is confirming not just the delivery of thousands of them, but of hundreds of Stinger missiles, too — something it wouldn’t confirm it was delivering even days into the war.

Still, there are many who say more must be done, from U.S. lawmakers to Ukrainian officials to leaders of NATO countries in the alliance’s eastern flank.

After meeting Zelenskyy in Kyiv, for example, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the powerful leader of Poland’s ruling party who serves as deputy prime minister, told reporters an international peacekeeping mission should be sent to Ukraine, with the means to defend itself.

U.S. officials have ruled that out, starting with Biden and stretching to include Republican lawmakers.

“[A] NATO no-fly zone seems to be a bridge too far for me and the administration,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

But he added that “there is bipartisan support for sending a package that includes fighter jets and air defense systems to Ukraine immediately so that we can have a Ukrainian no-fly zone manned by Ukrainian pilots and manned by missile systems in the hands of the Ukrainian military.”

The administration is consulting with U.S. allies that have more advanced missile systems than the shoulder-fired Stingers and Javelins that have been provided so far, according to State Department and Pentagon officials. In particular, there are talks to resupply Soviet-era or Russian-made missile systems, they said — such as the S-300 missile battery.

“Those are the systems on which they’re already using, the systems on which they’re already trained and have actually demonstrated great effect already,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters Wednesday.

Only three NATO allies have the S-300 — Greece, Bulgaria, and Slovakia. Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke on Wednesday to his Greek counterpart, Dr. Thanos Dokos, including about “international efforts … to ensure Ukraine has the ability to defend itself,” the White House said.

But the Pentagon has rejected an idea from Poland to have Polish Soviet-era warplanes known as MiG-29s transferred to U.S. custody and then passed onto Ukraine, saying a U.S. intelligence assessment warned the move would be seen as too escalatory by the Kremlin.

“The equipment that we provided is defensive, as you know, not offensive, and we see that as being a difference,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday.

To some, any lethal U.S. aid may be seen as crossing Putin’s red line after the strongman leader warned the world that countries interfering in his so-called “special military operation” would face “consequences you have never seen.”

U.S. officials have said they’re still encouraging other countries to provide warplanes directly, but lawmakers continue to press the White House to get involved, especially after Zelenskyy’s address.

“Never in the history of warfare have 28 planes meant so much to so many,” said Graham Wednesday.

Ukraine already has a fleet of MiG-29s that the Pentagon has said they are not using often in part because Russia has not dominated the country’s airspace.

In addition, fewer than half of Poland’s planes may be flyable, according to retired Gen. Joseph Ralston, the former commander of U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe. The Soviet-era planes require spare parts from Russia — out of the question in the current conflict — and constant maintenance, although providing their spare parts to the Ukrainians now be helpful, he said.

“The MiG-29 issue has taken on more of a symbolic issue than it is a real-world issue,” Ralston said during an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

While the White House has publicly touted this aid in the midst of pressure to do more, it’s been very tight-lipped about how it is getting into Ukrainian hands. Russia has made clear that the delivery of military aid is a potential “target.”

“Pumping Ukraine with weapons from a number of countries orchestrated by them is not just a dangerous move, but these are actions that turn the corresponding convoys into legitimate targets,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state-run Channel One news agency.

A strike Sunday in western Ukraine, just 10 miles from the Polish border, has brought that risk home, killing 35 people and injuring more than 100.

“We have to act and act quickly. It’s not a matter of weeks, it’s a matter of hours and days,” said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.

ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report from the Pentagon and Trish Turner from Capitol Hill.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” for his violent invasion Ukraine, including attacks on civilians.

The president initially told a reporter “no,” when asked if he was ready to label Putin a war criminal, but moments later Biden circled back, asking her to repeat the question which he appeared to have initially misunderstood.

“I think he is a war criminal,” Biden said.

BREAKING: Pres. Biden calls Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin a ” war criminal.” https://t.co/ORuOYE3lBs pic.twitter.com/9XHbwoCZrq

— ABC News (@ABC) March 16, 2022

A short time later, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden was speaking “from the heart” at an afternoon press briefing after he made the comment, while carefully noting there is still a State Department review of whether it considers Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian civilians a war crime.

Despite the evidence, the White House until now had gone out of its way not to label Putin a war criminal, repeatedly noting there was an official review underway before they could formally accuse Putin of war crimes.

Earlier this month, Biden said it was “clear” Russian forces were targeting civilian areas but said that it was too early to call them war crimes.

“Do you believe Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine?” Biden was asked on March 2.

“We are following it very closely. It’s early to say that,” he said.

The shift in characterization follows a wave of U.S. sanctions on Russia including personal sanctions on Putin and following a powerful appeal from Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to Congress, in which he called on Biden to do more to aid Ukraine.

One year ago to the day that Russia forces began invading Ukraine, Biden told ABC News Anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview that be believed Putin was a “killer.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — A major effort to combat climate change — reducing methane emissions — is now underway as $1.15 billion flows to states to help close unused oil and gas wells that release pollution and greenhouse gases.

The funds stem from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which in total allocated $4.7 billion over nine years for a new federal program to address orphan wells. This is the first funding phase.

There are over 130,000 orphaned wells across the country, according to a preliminary analysis from the Department of the Interior.

“This is something I have heard about from the day I became a senator. And it’s got the support of counties all across the state because they see the need to clean up these leaking wells in their backyards,” said Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., in an interview with ABC News. Colorado is now receiving $39,006,000 to clean up the wells.

Although the terms “orphaned” and “abandoned” are often used interchangeably, a significant component distinguishes orphaned wells and makes them more difficult to find.

“There’s no known owner like it’s truly — it’s just out there in the wild, nobody can be attached to it,” said Josh Axelrod, a senior advocate for the National Resources Defense Council.

In these instances, the lack of a known owner means the burden for cleanup ends up falling on state governments and, in turn, taxpayers. It also makes the wells more challenging to track.

While state governments and environmental groups have worked on their own to fill wells, the process can take years, with residents struggling to get wells filled in their own backyards.

The new funding focuses specifically on orphaned wells, a subset of the estimated 2 to 3 million abandoned wells in the United States that, combined, release greenhouse gases equal to 1.5 to 4 million cars annually, according to the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.

They are the nation’s tenth-largest methane emitters, according to a study conducted at McGill University, and the gas warms the planet at 80 times the rate of carbon dioxide.

Various groups are working with states to find unidentified orphaned wells through multiple processes, including using drones. The funding from the infrastructure bill only addresses already-identified wells.

There are currently 9 million Americans who live within one mile of an orphaned well, according to a study conducted by the Environmental Defense Fund and McGill University.

Tyson Price, an elementary school principal in West Virginia, worries the well in his backyard is polluting the local river and harming deer that frequently use it as a drinking source. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection is responsible for closing wells and maintains a list that ranks cleanup projects in order of urgency.

“Two years ago, I was 43 on the list in West Virginia. And a couple of weeks ago, I reached back out to the DEP… I’m in the 60s now; I think it was 65. So in that two-year span, I’ve actually moved down the list,” said Price, who has spent six years trying to get the well closed.

On top of gaseous pollutants, orphaned wells can leak leftover oil and carry a risk of combusting. But the cost, technical challenges and environmental concerns prevent residents from dealing with the wells on their own. The cleanup process requires filling the wells with cement and restoring the surfaces.

“There’s just no way that I could afford to plug this thing myself and do it, you know, in an environmentally safe way,” Price said.

Although Tyson and his family have felt no ill effects from the well, reports have emerged of health issues brought on by proximity to unplugged wells. West Virginia is now receiving $55,293,000 from the first round of funding to help clean up the state’s 6,309 orphaned wells.

The push to close the wells comes as global methane emissions have ballooned in recent years, according to new data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. At last year’s COP26 climate summit, President Joe Biden and other world leaders announced a Global Methane Pledge to cut emissions 30% by 2030.

“It’s a fundamental part of our energy transition in this country to make sure that we don’t leave these orphan wells behind…I would expect there to be real momentum to do whatever is necessary to clean up the rest,” Bennet said.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Speaking just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on him to be a “leader for peace,” President Joe Biden on Wednesday is expected to detail how much military aid the U.S. is already providing — or will provide — to Ukraine.

But it was unclear how much he would directly address Zelenskyy’s emotional and direct appeal to lawmakers on Wednesday and the measures he asked the U.S. to back, including a no-fly zone the administration has repeatedly rejected.

Biden will announce an additional $800 million in military assistance as part of the $13.6 billion aid package for Ukraine contained in the government spending bill Biden signed into law Tuesday, a source familiar told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega, and includes weapons the Ukrainians have been requesting, such as anti-armor and anti-air systems.

But White House press secretary Jen Psaki reiterated Tuesday that the administration doesn’t support Zelenskyy’s no-fly zone request because the U.S. has to consider its own national security, and as Biden has repeatedly put it, does not want to enter “World War III.”

“We have the responsibility to do here is to assess what the impact is on the United States and our own national security,” she said.

While the U.S. has imposed a slate of economic and trade sanctions to isolate Putin, the Biden administration has also flatly rejected U.S. troops fighting Russian forces in Ukraine and any help delivering MiG-29 fighter jets that Poland wants to get to the Ukrainians.

Psaki also said Biden would watch Zelenskyy’s speech “to the degree” that his schedule allowed.

Earlier Wednesday, to a packed auditorium of lawmakers and standing ovations, Zelenskyy seized the spotlight to push Biden to contribute more lethal aid, lawmakers to sanction more companies with ties to Russia, and said if the U.S. cannot agree to support a no-fly zone, then to give Ukraine S-300 systems and other similar weapons to defend their skies.

While the White House event allows Biden to detail what the U.S. is doing in place of a no-fly zone, he will be forced to respond to Zelenskyy’s emotional appeal, in which he told Americans to remember Pearl Harbor and the 9/11 attacks when witnessing the terror in Ukraine and closed by calling out Biden by name, in English, to do more.

“It’s not enough to be the leader of the nation. Today it takes to be the leader of the world,” Zelensky said. “Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace. Peace in your country doesn’t depend anymore only on you and your people. It depends on those next to you and those who are strong.”

In remarks on the Senate floor following Zelenskyy’s address, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized the Biden administration for what he’s characterized as a sluggish response to the crisis in Ukraine and outlined three steps the administration should take to pick up the pace.

McConnell called on Biden to expand the scope of U.S. lethal aid to Ukraine to include more effective long-range air defense capabilities, to deploy more U.S. forces to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank and use new authorities to harden the defenses of frontline allies, and finally, for Biden to go “beyond Brussels” on his trip next week and to visit Eastern flank, NATO allies like Poland, Romania and Lithuania.

“As the threat to Ukraine gathered whenever an opportunity to act has presented itself, the Biden administration has hesitated until the political pressure became overwhelming, or balked outright,” McConnell said.

Although he made no direct mention of a no-fly zone, McConnell hit hard on the need to help Ukraine shore up its air defense, arguing the administration should quickly get Ukraine air defense systems “that we should have helped Ukraine get weeks ago.”
MORE: Biden to head to Brussels next week for show of unity with NATO leaders

Biden will travel to Brussels next Thursday to meet with NATO leaders in his first European visit since Russian President Vladimir Putin started invading Ukraine, the White House announced Tuesday, to meet “face-to-face” with his European counterparts to assess Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

ABC News’ Allison Pecorin and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Speaking just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on him to be a “leader for peace,” President Joe Biden on Wednesday thanked Zelenskyy for his “passionate message” and detailed how much military aid the U.S. is already providing — or will provide — to Ukraine.

Biden called Zelenskyy’s speech “convincing and significant” and said he listened to him from the White House private residence.

“He speaks for people who have shown remarkable courage and strength in the face of brutal aggression — courage and strength that’s inspired not only Ukrainians but the entire world,” Biden said. “Putin is inflicting appalling, appalling devastation and harm on Ukraine — bombing apartment buildings, maternity wards, hospitals. I mean, it’s — it’s God awful.”

He did not directly address Zelenskyy’s emotional and direct appeal to lawmakers on Wednesday for the U.S. to back a no-fly zone the administration has repeatedly rejected — but announced an additional $800 million in military assistance as part of the $13.6 billion aid package for Ukraine contained in the government spending bill Biden signed into law Tuesday, which includes weapons the Ukrainians have been requesting, such as anti-armor and anti-air systems.

Ahead of signing an action to approve the $800 million in additional security support, Biden said the U.S. is “fully committed” to getting more weapons to Ukraine.

“What’s at stake here are the principles that the United States and the United Nations and across the world stand for. It’s about freedom. It’s about the right of people to determine their own future. It’s about making sure Ukraine never, will never be a victory for Putin no matter what advances he makes on the battlefield,” he said.

“The American people are answering President Zelenskyy’s call for more help, more weapons for Ukraine to defend itself, more tools to fight Russian aggression. And that’s what we’re doing,” Biden said.

While not addressing Zelenskyy’s request for a humanitarian no-fly zone, Biden said the new package will supply Ukraine with 9,000 anti-armor systems, 7,000 small arms, 800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, 20 million rounds of ammunition, and 100 drones, “so they can continue to defend their space.”

“At the request of President Zelenskyy, we have identified and are helping Ukraine acquire additional longer-range anti-aircraft systems and ammunitions for those systems,” he said. “And this will include drones which demonstrates our commitment to sending our most cutting-edge systems to Ukraine for its defense.”

“Now, I want to be honest with you. This could be a long and difficult battle, but the American people will be steadfast in our support of the people of Ukraine in the face of Putin’s immoral, unethical attacks on civilian populations,” he added. “We are united in our abhorrence of Putin’s depraved onslaught, and we are going to continue to have their backs as they fight for freedom, their democracy, their very survival — and we are going to give Ukraine the arms to fight and defend themselves through all the difficult days ahead.”

Over the past week, the U.S. has contributed $1 billion in new assistance to Ukraine.

But White House press secretary Jen Psaki also reiterated Tuesday that the administration doesn’t support Zelenskyy’s no-fly zone request because the U.S. has to consider its own national security, and as Biden has repeatedly put it, does not want to enter “World War III.”

“We have the responsibility to do here is to assess what the impact is on the United States and our own national security,” she said.

While the U.S. has imposed a slate of economic and trade sanctions to isolate Putin, the Biden administration has also flatly rejected U.S. troops fighting Russian forces in Ukraine and any help delivering MiG-29 fighter jets that Poland wants to get to the Ukrainians.

Earlier Wednesday, to a packed auditorium of lawmakers and standing ovations, Zelenskyy seized the spotlight to push Biden to contribute more lethal aid, lawmakers to sanction more companies with ties to Russia, and said if the U.S. cannot agree to support a no-fly zone, then to give Ukraine S-300 systems and other similar weapons to defend its skies.

While the White House event allowed Biden to detail what the U.S. is doing in place of a no-fly zone, he was forced to respond to Zelenskyy’s emotional appeal, in which he told Americans to remember Pearl Harbor and the 9/11 attacks when witnessing the terror in Ukraine and closed by calling out Biden by name, in English, to do more.

“It’s not enough to be the leader of the nation. Today it takes to be the leader of the world,” Zelensky said. “Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace. Peace in your country doesn’t depend anymore only on you and your people. It depends on those next to you and those who are strong.”

In remarks on the Senate floor following Zelenskyy’s address, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized the Biden administration for what he’s characterized as a sluggish response to the crisis in Ukraine and outlined three steps the administration should take to pick up the pace.

McConnell called on Biden to expand the scope of U.S. lethal aid to Ukraine to include more effective long-range air defense capabilities, to deploy more U.S. forces to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank and use new authorities to harden the defenses of frontline allies, and finally, for Biden to go “beyond Brussels” on his trip next week and to visit Eastern flank, NATO allies like Poland, Romania and Lithuania.

“As the threat to Ukraine gathered whenever an opportunity to act has presented itself, the Biden administration has hesitated until the political pressure became overwhelming, or balked outright,” McConnell said.

Although he made no direct mention of a no-fly zone, McConnell hit hard on the need to help Ukraine shore up its air defense, arguing the administration should quickly get Ukraine air defense systems “that we should have helped Ukraine get weeks ago.”

Biden will travel to Brussels next Thursday to meet with NATO leaders in his first European visit since Russian President Vladimir Putin started invading Ukraine, the White House announced Tuesday, to meet “face-to-face” with his European counterparts to assess Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

ABC News’ Allison Pecorin, Molly Nagle, Conor Finnegan, Luis Martinez and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.