Donald Trump, the President of the U.S., announced on Thursday that he will eliminate the endangerment finding regulation that has served as the basis for greenhouse gas regulations.
During a joint announcement with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler at the White House, Trump stated that according to the procedure just completed by the EPA, they’re officially terminating the so-called endangerment finding.
Introduced during the Barack Obama administration in 2009, this decision provided a critical legal foundation for the federal government’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
The Trump administration hailed this move as the largest single deregulation in American history, boasting that it has unshackled the fossil fuel industry.
Trump lambasted the greenhouse gas endangerment finding, calling it a catastrophic Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and dramatically inflated consumer prices. He asserted that this decision had absolutely no basis in fact and lacked any legal foundation.
He claimed that this action would eliminate over 1.3 trillion USD in regulatory costs, helping to significantly reduce car prices.
Furthermore, he remarked that everyone was about to be forced to buy electric vehicles (EVs) in a very short time frame, even though it couldn’t supply electricity to charge them. It would have had to spend 5 trillion USD on electric charging infrastructure. That’s all over now.
Trump declared that therefore, it is immediately repealing the absurd endangerment finding and terminating the unnecessary green emission standards imposed on vehicle models and engines from 2012 to 2027 and beyond.
The White House estimates that this move could save an average of over 2,400 USD per new car.
EPA Administrator Wheeler emphasized that automakers will no longer face pressure to switch to electric vehicles, highlighting the expansion of consumer choice.
The repeal of the endangerment finding follows a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that classified greenhouse gases as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
Subsequently, the EPA officially determined that six greenhouse gases contribute to climate change and pose a threat to public health, which became the foundation for all policies regulating emissions from automobiles, power plants, and oil facilities.
Environmental and public health organizations immediately responded with vehement opposition, announcing plans to sue.
Major environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), stated that it’ll see them in court, arguing that the scientific basis for the endangerment finding has only become clearer since 2009.
Meanwhile, Trump criticized wind power, claiming that they have effectively halted all windmills in this country, and stated that most of the equipment is manufactured in China, causing various problems such as ruining landscapes and killing birds.
He continued that they’re desperately working to ensure that no wind farms are built, and it hopes that not a single wind farm will be constructed during his term. Some contracts already signed are in progress, but it is trying to cancel them for various reasons, including potential risks to military facilities and aircraft.