The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has decided to put an end to decades of environmental public policies by announcing the elimination of "all emission standards unnecessarily imposed on vehicles and engines between 2012 and 2027 and beyond." The United States will no longer have limitations on greenhouse gas emissions, and its federal agencies will not be able to act. "That's over. These burdensome restrictions have been a key factor in the unprecedented increase in car prices, and the car obtained was far from good. In four years of the Biden administration, the price of a new and used car increased by over 22%. We are facing the greatest deregulation in U.S. history," he celebrated from the Oval Office.
Trump, who believes that climate change is a "massive hoax," who adores coal and fossil fuels, who despises renewable energies, and who believes that any emission limitation is stupid, arguing that scientists worldwide are not only wrong but are working towards the destruction of the economy, appeared smiling alongside Lee Zeldin, head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to explain the elimination of the "scientific finding" that establishes that emissions endanger people's health and the environment, which has been the legal basis for policies over the last 15 years.
"It was a disastrous policy," said the president, "all of this was a scam, a gigantic scam for Obama and Biden to fleece the country." In a statement, the EPA said that the measure will save the United States 1.3 trillion dollars, while Trump said on Thursday that it will "save American consumers trillions of dollars."
The "endangering finding" or "endangerment determination" by the Environmental Protection Agency, established under the presidency of Barack Obama in 2009 (following a 2007 Supreme Court decision that greenhouse gases are pollutants under the Clean Air Act), classified carbon dioxide, methane, and four other greenhouse gases as a threat to public health and welfare. Today's decision will strip the federal government of authority to reduce pollution, leading to the disappearance of limits on carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gas emissions.
This is a further, and most serious, step by an administration that since January of last year, and with the current Supreme Court by its side, has taken all kinds of steps to strip federal agencies of decision-making power, arguing that only Congress has the authority to act, removing competencies from experts in all regulatory matters. Environmental, but also in food, medical, or economic matters. In 2011, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that companies cannot be sued under federal common law for greenhouse gas emissions, as the regulation of these emissions had been delegated to the EPA.
Trump and his team argue that Obama and Biden overstepped their legal authority by using the Clean Air Act to regulate climate pollution. "Today, the Trump administration revoked the endangerment determination: the decision that served as the basis for emission limits on tailpipes and standards for power plants. Without it, we will be less safe, less healthy, and less able to combat climate change, all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more profits," responded former President Obama in a message on his social media.
Speaking alongside the president at the White House, Zeldin stated that all greenhouse gas emission standards for light, medium, and heavy-duty vehicles that emerged after the 'endangerment determination' have been eliminated, which he derogatorily referred to as "the Holy Grail of the climate change religion." "Automakers will no longer be pressured to shift their fleets to electric vehicles," he concluded with a smile. By getting rid of the 'endangerment determination,' the administration will now be able to more easily revoke other rules limiting pollution for power plants, as well as the use of oil and gas, although these will require additional regulatory processes.
According to estimates by the Environmental Defense Fund, an environmental group, the total repeal of the 'endangerment determination,' along with Trump's proposal to lower standards for motor vehicles, will result in up to 18,000 billion more tons of greenhouse gas pollution by 2055, equivalent to China's annual emissions, the world's largest polluter. And it would cost up to 4.7 trillion dollars in "additional expenses related to harmful air and climate pollution."