EPA Rescinds Ruling Allowing Government To Regulate Greenhouse Gases

It’s been said before, but I’ll say it again: the Republican Party is a death cult. So many of the moves made by the Trump administration actively endanger the lives of Americans. President Donald Trump’s second term has seen the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) completely abandon environmental protection. On Thursday, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the agency would rescind the legal opinion that formed the basis for many federal laws regulating greenhouse gases and mitigating climate change. 

According to the Washington Post, the “endangerment finding” was implemented in 2009 under the Obama administration, which found that the federal government had a legal basis to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.  During a news conference announcing the move, Zeldin called it the “single largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States of America.” 

“The endangerment finding and the regulations that were based on it didn’t just regulate emissions,” Zeldin said Thursday. “It regulated and targeted the American dream.” I’m an American, and my dream is to live in a world where climate disasters aren’t increasing in severity every year.

While the ruling will largely remove limits on greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, the real danger is that it could prevent future administrations from implementing climate regulations. 

“If the legal reasoning that they proposed to rely on for revoking the endangerment finding is upheld in court, no future EPA will be able to regulate CO2 emissions.” Jeff Holmstead, former head of the EPA’s air office under George W. Bush, told the Post. 

Politico reports that Energy Secretary Chris Wright commissioned five scientists last summer to draft a 141-page report downplaying the effects of climate change. While it was a nod to the fringe science of climate change denialism, the report has been trashed both within the government by scientists at the Department of Energy, as well as by outside climate science experts. 

It appears even the Trump administration is aware of the flimsy basis of the “science” in that report, as none of its findings were used as the basis for rescinding the finding.

“They would have been obliterated in court,” said Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University, told Politico. “This is the gold standard of climate skepticism, and if this is the best they can do, then they’ve proven how robust climate science actually is.” 

I hope Dessler is right, because legal action against the move is pretty much inevitable. 

“There is no way to reconcile EPA’s decision with the law, the science, and the reality of disasters that are hitting us harder every year,” Abbie Dillen, the president of the legal group Earthjustice, said in a statement. “This is a slap in the face for all of the millions of Americans who are experiencing the devastating costs of extreme heat, wildfires, flooding, and storms. Earthjustice and our partners will see the Trump administration in court.”

When taken holistically, it honestly looks like the Trump administration is trying to kill its base. I’m not even being hyperbolic, folks. 

Climate disasters like tornadoes, floods, and hurricanes directly impact voters in Red states. When compounding the EPA ruling with the Trump administration’s efforts to significantly reduce FEMA’s ability to respond to such disasters efficiently and effectively, the only conclusion I can arrive at is that the Trump administration is actively trying to kill the people who put them in office. 

One need only look at FEMA’s disastrous response last summer to the Kerr County floods in Texas. Over 100 people died in the floods, and FEMA was criticized for its slow response. In the months following the flood, FEMA denied most people affected who applied for financial aid. This is Texas we’re talking about, arguably the most Republican state. The Trump administration has no shame in playing favorites, so if this is how they treat their friends, how do you think this is going to go for their perceived enemies? 

By removing these regulations, the EPA is effectively guaranteeing that events like the Kerr County floods will only become more severe. I guess nothing makes America great quite like exacerbating climate events and sacrificing breathable air so billionaires can make a couple extra bucks. 

SEE ALSO:

EPA Staff Signs “Declaration Of Dissent” Over Trump’s Policies

EPA Air Pollution Restrictions No Longer Consider Human Cost