U.S. EPA to reconsider whether greenhouse gases pose a danger

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In its ongoing efforts to make America great again, the Trump administration is set to also, well, make America smoggy again. According to a Reuters report, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has plans to reverse its belief in the scientific research that greenhouse-gas emissions are a danger to public health, thus toppling the legal foundation that has guided all of the U.S. federal government’s major climate regulations.

This will have a direct impact on regulations limiting greenhouse-gas emissions from vehicles, industries, and energy production. By ignoring the scientific finding, the EPA could more easily undo major environmental legislation, the sources said.

This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, given comments made by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin during his confirmation hearing, saying the agency has authority but not an obligation to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. Soon thereafter, Zeldin announced over two dozen de-regulatory actions aimed at “driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate-change religion.”

White House budget director Ross Vought chimed in that the review was “long overdue” as the regulations had harmed the economy.

Meanwhile, the International Court of Justice on August 6 released an advisory opinion saying greenhouse-gas emissions pose an “existential threat” to the world, and countries must cooperate on concrete emission-reduction targets.

According to Reuters, an EPA spokesperson said the agency sent its proposal to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review on June 30, and that it is being reviewed by other federal agencies. The spokesperson added that, “(t)he proposal will be published for public notice and comment once it has completed interagency review and been signed by the Administrator.”

Reuters also quoted a lawyer who has represented environmental groups in cases before the Supreme Court. “It would be a shocking dereliction of a clear statutory duty to protect the public and an indefensible denial of overwhelming science,” said Sean Donahue, a lawyer with Donahue, Goldberg & Herzog, adding, it’s “also a national embarrassment.”

In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the EPA has authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions and required the agency to make a scientific finding on whether they endanger public health. Two years later, the EPA issued a finding that emissions from new motor vehicles contribute to pollution and endanger public health and welfare. It was upheld in several legal challenges, and underpinned subsequent greenhouse-gas regulations. One would expect similar legal challenges to be launched in this latest move by the EPA.

The U.S. is the largest historical greenhouse-gas emitter, and currently the number two emitter after China. No word yet on if leaded gasoline is set for a comeback.

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