In one of its most significant reversals on climate policy to-date, the Trump administration on Tuesday proposed to repeal a 2009 scientific finding that human-caused climate change endangers human health and safety, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced.
If successful, the repeal could strip away the federal government's most powerful way to control the country's planet-warming pollution and fight climate change.
The scientific finding has served as the basis of many of the Environmental Protection Agency's most significant regulations to protect human health and environment, and decrease climate pollution from cars, power plants and the oil and gas industry.
Zeldin on Tuesday spoke proudly of his agency's move to repeal the endangerment finding as the "largest deregulatory action in the history of America," speaking on "Ruthless," a conservative podcast, and referred to climate change as dogma rather than science.
"This has been referred to as basically driving a dagger into the heart of the climate change religion," Zeldin said.
In addition to reversing the endangerment finding, the EPA's proposal also seeks to repeal rules that regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, since they stem from the finding. The Biden EPA sought to tighten those standards to prod the auto industry to make more fuel-efficient hybrids and electric vehicles.
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📷: Ulysse Bellier/AFP/Getty Images
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Post‑disaster rebuilding efforts in Indian townships are revealing the cost-effectiveness of nature‑based planning and green infrastructure compared to reactive reconstruction. Investments in eco‑friendly construction are highlighting that resilience demands integration of circular economy principles and decarbonising the built environment.
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