Trump's EPA boss moves to erase Biden's green agenda

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

President Donald Trump 's administration issued a radical proposal that would dramatically reshape climate policy and undo much of Joe Biden's green agenda. The plan from EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin would revoke a scientific finding that greenhouse gases pose a threat to the public.
'This has been referred to as basically driving a dagger into the heart of the climate change religion,' Zeldin told the Ruthless podcast in describing his move. He's targeting an Obama-era regulation called the 'endangerment finding,' which is the legal basis for most EPA climate rules, including limits on power plant and vehicle emissions.
'They created this endangerment finding and then they are able to put all these regulations on vehicles, on airplanes, on stationary sources, to basically regulate out of existence, in many cases, a lot of segments of our economy. And it cost Americans a lot of money,' Zeldin said. 'Repealing it will be the largest deregulatory action in the history of America,' he added.
Then-President Biden used the finding as a basis for many of his regulations on fossil fuels, which included restrictions on new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters, stricter regulations on methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, and initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
The Trump administration's plan to revoke the rule must go though a lengthy review process, including public comment, before it is finalized, likely next year. Environmental groups are likely to challenge the rule change in court. If finalized, repeal of the endangerment finding would erase current limits on greenhouse gas pollution from cars, factories, power plants and other sources and could prevent future administrations from proposing rules to tackle climate change.
Zeldin called for a rewrite of the endangerment finding in March as part of a series of environmental rollbacks announced at the same time in what he said was 'the greatest day of deregulation in American history.'' A total of 31 key environmental rules on topics from clean air to clean water and climate change would be rolled back or repealed under Zeldin's plan.
Zeldin called the endangerment finding as 'the Holy Grail of the climate change religion' and said he was thrilled to end it 'as the EPA does its part to usher in the Golden Age of American success.'' The EPA also is expected to call for rescinding limits on tailpipe emissions that were designed to encourage automakers to build and sell more electric vehicles.
Transportation, including cars and trucks, makes up 29 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA proposal follows an executive order from Trump that directed the agency to submit a report 'on the legality and continuing applicability' of the endangerment finding.
Conservatives and some congressional Republicans hailed the initial plan, calling it a way to undo economically damaging rules to regulate greenhouse gases. But environmental groups, legal experts and Democrats said any attempt to repeal or roll back the endangerment finding would be an uphill task with slim chance of success. The finding came two years after a 2007 Supreme Court ruling holding that the EPA has authority to regulate greenhouse gases as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
Environmental groups also slammed Zeldin's move. David Doniger, a climate expert at the NRDC, accused the Trump administration of using potential repeal of the endangerment finding as a 'kill shot´´ that would allow him to make all climate regulations invalid.