President Obama on Friday used his executive powers to take control of climate change policy. Through a stroke of the pen, he issued an executive order establishing a task force to advise the administration on how to respond to severe storms, wildfires, droughts and other potential impacts of climate change.

According to the Huffington Post, Obama is directing federal agencies to revise programs and policies that might present any barrier on climate change action:

The order builds out the Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience that President Obama called for in his June climate change speech. The task force will bring together local, state and tribal officials to collaborate on approaches for dealing with climate impacts and advise the federal government. Those impacts include heat waves, extreme storm events, droughts, ocean acidification, sea-level rise and the melting of the permafrost.

The task force includes the Democratic governors of Hawaii, California, Washington, Delaware, Maryland, Illinois and Vermont. One Republican — Eddie Calvo, the governor of the small Pacific Island territory of Guam --  signed on to the task force, which also includes 16 mayors and two tribal leaders.

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