Donald Trump’s government is reassessing whether greenhouse gases damage people’s health, amid a dizzying blitz of more than 30 environmental protections that limit air and water pollution.
“We are driving a dagger through the heart of climate change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age,” wrote Lee Zeldin, the head of Trump’s Environment Protection Agency (EPA) in The Wall Street Journal yesterday.
But environmentalists said the dagger was instead pointed at “the heart of public health”.
The proposals will have to clear various legal hurdles, so are not guaranteed to stick. But if successful, they will save trillions of dollars in regulatory costs and “hidden taxes”, Mr Zeldin said.
They hope this will tackle the cost of living by lowering the price of things like cars, home heating and running a business.
The EPA on Wednesday laid out plans to rollback a staggering 31 different rules that clean up cars, power plants and waterways – the latest in a slew of moves to axe climate and environmental protections.
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It included one that has so far underpinned US government climate action: a scientific finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health, which was finalised under Barack Obama in 2009.
Greenhouse gases that cause climate change have been linked to things like extreme heat, flooding, the spread of disease and air pollution.
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Gina McCarthy, the EPA chief under Mr Obama, called Wednesday the “most disastrous day in EPA history”.
Among other moves unveiled at speed yesterday, the EPA is also reconsidering admissions standards for power plants, regulations on heavy vehicles and rules on wastewater from coal and other power plants that contain mercury and arsenic.
The National Mining Association, which represents some coal miners, was among many industries to applaud the rollbacks.
It said the change to the rule on clean power plants was “long overdue”, as data centres and AI increase electricity demand.
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The moves are part of Mr Trump‘s efforts to slash regulations and boost industries from coal to manufacturing, and ramp up oil and minerals production.
On his first day in office, he issued a flurry of executive orders to boost fossil fuel production and withdraw from global climate efforts.
Green groups have vowed to fight the proposed rollbacks in court.
“In the face of overwhelming science, it’s impossible to think that the EPA could develop a contradictory finding that would stand up in court,” said David Doniger, a climate expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council environmental group.
Abel Russ from the Environmental Integrity Project said: “EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is driving a dagger straight
into the heart of public health”.
