Trump’s environmental protection rollback

The federal government will no longer regulate greenhouse gases, including emissions from cars, trucks and power plants, in a huge reversal for climate policy.

The Trump administration announced last week it would revoke the so-called “endangerment finding,” a key Obama-era ruling underlying many federal climate limits. This scientific finding says that six planet-warming gases – including carbon dioxide and methane – pose a threat to human health, allowing the federal government to regulate them under the 1970 Clean Air Act.

Climate deregulation has long been a goal of the president, who views many of the rules as burdensome and costly to business. Trump has also repeatedly questioned climate science and has called climate change a “con job,” a “scam” and a “hoax.” He has pushed for increased fossil fuel production, including trying to revive coal production and has pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement and the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.  

Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin argue that eliminating the endangerment finding will save taxpayers more than a trillion dollars, spark industry and make vehicles more affordable for Americans.  

But climate scientists and policy experts warn that this rollback will increase planet-warming gases, weaken the government’s ability to limit pollutants that are dangerous to human health, and sideline clean energy. 

On today’s episode: what does this policy shift mean for climate, public health and the American economy?

Guests:

Zahra Hirji,  Bloomberg climate reporter  

Ann Carlson, Shirley Shapiro Professor of Law at UCLA who served in the Biden administration. She’s the author of the forthcoming book, Smog and Sunshine

Jeff Holmstead, a partner at the Bracewell law firm and former senior EPA official in the George W. Bush Administration