Trump terminates Obama EPA climate rule

Washington: US President Donald Trump announced what he called “the single largest deregulatory action in American history,” formally terminating the Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency’s endangerment finding that underpinned federal greenhouse gas regulations.

“Under the process just completed by the EPA, we are officially terminating the so-called endangerment finding,” Trump said, describing it as “a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers.”

The 2009 finding had determined that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare, forming the legal basis for a range of emissions standards. Trump said the determination “had no basis in fact” and “had no basis in law.”

“This action will eliminate over $1.3 trillion of regulatory costs and help bring car prices tumbling down dramatically,” he said. He added that the move would lower the average cost of a new vehicle by “close to $3,000.”

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the rollback “the single largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States of America.”

“The 2009 Obama EPA endangerment finding is now eliminated,” Zeldin said. “This action will save American taxpayers over $1.3 trillion. What that means is lower prices, more choices, and an end to heavy-handed climate policies.”

He said American families would save “over $2,400 for a new vehicle” and that manufacturers would no longer be required to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions for vehicles and engines.

“The forced transition to electric vehicles is eliminated,” Zeldin said. “No longer will automakers be pressured to shift their fleets towards electric vehicles.”

Trump also said the administration was repealing “the ridiculous endangerment finding and terminating all additional green emission standards imposed unnecessarily on vehicle models and engines between 2012 and 2027 and beyond.”

He said the administration had canceled what he called “absurd tailpipe emission standards” and revoked “Biden’s emissions waiver that would have allowed California to regulate automobiles for the entire nation.”

Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said, “Literally no other president would have done this to get at the foundations of the Green New Deal.”

Trump argued the rollback would not harm public health. “I tell them, don’t worry about it because it has nothing to do with public health,” he said in response to a question. “This is all a scam, a giant scam.”

Zeldin said, “Today’s action does not change regulations on traditional air pollutants and air toxics. This EPA is committed to providing clean air for all Americans.”

IANS