A crucial scientific decision from the Obama administration that serves as the foundation for all federal initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been overturned by US President Donald Trump.
According to the so-called “endangerment finding” of 2009, a number of greenhouse gases posed a risk to public health. It now serves as the legal cornerstone of federal initiatives to reduce emissions, particularly in automobiles.
The reversal was dubbed the “largest deregulation in American history” by the White House, which claimed that it would lower automakers’ expenses by $2,400 per vehicle.
Environmental organizations plan to contest the decision in court, claiming it is by far the biggest attempt to reverse climate change to yet.
Trump described the 2009 decision as “a disastrous Obama era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers” during his remarks in the Oval Office on Thursday.About the Democrats’ climate policy, the Republican president went on to say, “This radical rule became the legal foundation for the Green New Scam, one of the greatest scams in history.”
Removing the ruling would increase the vulnerability of Americans, according to former President Barack Obama, who rarely discusses the policy of current leaders.
Without it, the fossil fuel business will be able to profit even more, and we will be less safe, healthier, and able to combat climate change,” he wrote on X.
In 2009, the first year of Obama’s first term, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made its first statement regarding the effects of greenhouse gases.
The organization determined that six major greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, such as carbon dioxide and methane, pose a risk to human health.
The EPA finding became crucial to federal efforts to reduce emissions in the years that followed, as a divided Congress was unable to agree on legislation to address rising global temperatures.
“The endangerment finding has really served as the lynchpin of US regulation of greenhouse gases,” stated Meghan Greenfield, a former attorney for the Department of Justice and the EPA.Thus, it encompasses not only automobiles but also power plants, the oil and gas industry, landfill methane, and even airplanes. As a result, it truly spans the spectrum; every norm for every industry is based on this one concept.
Officials from the Trump administration are emphasizing that repealing the rule will result in over $1 trillion in savings and lower transportation and energy costs.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that reversing the decision will save automakers $2,400 per vehicle.
The Trump team’s claims of possible cost savings are met with skepticism by many environmentalists.According to Peter Zalzal of the Environmental Defense Fund, “It will force Americans to spend more money, about $1.4 trillion in additional fuel costs to power these less efficient and higher polluting vehicles.”The measure would cause up to 58,000 more premature deaths and 37 million more asthma attacks, according to our analysis of the health effects,” he stated.
Since producing fewer fuel-efficient cars may hinder their sales abroad, some in the US auto sector may be uncertain about the retreat.
According to Columbia University climate law specialist Michael Gerrard, “this rollback is kind of cementing things that have already been done, like the relaxation of the fuel economy standards.”However, the fact that no one else will want to purchase American automobiles puts the US automakers in a difficult situation.
