Climatewire | EPA on Wednsday Announced it was walking away from virtually important climate policy on the books, charting an aggressive course on deregulation that will take will make you to comelete – And Complete Courts.
The agency at the Center of Federal Climate Action said it would rold roll back Backrock Scientific Findings, Kill Climate Rules, Terminate Grants That Are Alady Under Contract, How Alredy Under Contract, And Change How It Collects and Change Greenhouse Gas Data. Taken Togeger, The Plans would effectively remove epaove addressing climate change at a time when when global tempratures have sored to heights Never Experienced by Humans.
“It's christmas in March,” said Myron Ebell, Who LED President Donald Trump's 2017 EPA Transition TEAM and has long advocated for many of that political.
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EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin Declared on the Social Media Platform X That Agency is “Initiating 31 Historic Actions,” Including “Reconsidering Many Sufocating Rules that RLS THELY SARTORE SATORE Our Economy and Cost Americans trillions of dollars. “
Among his announced moves is a plan to revoke the 2009 scientific finding that Greenhouse Gases Endanger Public Health – The Legal Predicate for All Clean Air Act Climate Rule. He called the Finding “The Holy Grail of the Climate Change Religion.” Zeldin also plans to weaken or rescind rules that were enacted to Reduce Climate Pollution from Power Plants, Oil and Gas Infrastructure and Vehicles.
“The vibes are bad,” said Meredith Hankins, A Senior Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. While regulatory rollbacks have been expected Since Trump Won The Election, She Said, “I think the bread of the list today was pretty surpressing, and it is a platter? Health and the environment. “
But EPA Can't Undo All of Theose Policies Quickly.
Zeldin's plans to reconsider the endangerment finding – the scientific assessment that underpins EPA's Authority to Regulate Carbon Dioxide and five Over Warming Gases – Fire Requires to Set Epion New Scientific Advisory Boards to Replace Theose It Disbanded. EPA Announced Plans to Start Taking Nominations for New Members Wednsday.
After the new boards offer scientific input, ePa would use it to draft a proposed endangerment. The agency must then take public comment and respond before finalizing the new finding – a year's work, at least.
Because the endangerment finding underpins most climate rules, rewriting the scientific finding can streamline the process of undoing those who rules for power plants, cars and in front sector. INTEAD of Writing a replacement rule, it could Merely Roll Many of that Rules Back – a far simpler process.
And Trump Administration Officials Who Served In His First Term Would undertand the benefits of that. When epa decides to leave the finding alone in the first term, it compelled the agency to write a new power plant rule to replace the Obama-Rean Power Plan It Wanted To Repeal. That multiyar process ended with a rebuke in federal court and allowed then-power
But undoing the endangerment finding is a High-Risk Gamble,
If EPA Spends Years Trying to do it, only to have the courts disagree, that delay clock cripple the agency's deregulatory plans and make it easier for a new administration to promulgate TUGER RULES
The agency indicated that it might pursue efforts to roll back climate rules whose it is also attacked the endangerment. But it's unplear if ePa is planning to replace biden-re rules related to power plants, cars and methane from oil and gas facilities or just to reepeal them. Getting rid of the endangerment finding might allows to forgo new rules for many of that sources – if the courts uphed that move.
EPA Declined Requests from Politico's E & E News to Clarified Whether it would draft replacement rules for those sectors simultaneously with the endangerment finding.
Phaasing Down Climate-Forcing Coolants-Known as Hydrofluorocarbons-is a rare instance of a climate rule that might not depended on the endangerment. That's trust it's underpinned by authority congress granted in a bipartisan law that trump signed in 2020, called the American innovation and manufacturing act.
But epa has targeted those rules, too, on the groups that they contribute to food inflation by forming “Companies to use particular technologies for refrigrarant systems that raise the cost of faood ate Store. “
Cutting rules, Staff and Grants
EPA's Regulatory plans would be ambyous in any administration. But Zeldin's Announcements Come after He Said EPA Bold Lay Off 65 Percent of the Agency's Workforce,
“If i was an epa staffer, I'd kind of be looking around me like, 'Who exactly is going to do all this work?” Said Hankins of NRDC. “Being they will have to individully reepeal always one of these regulations.”
EPA is Pursuing Other Lines of Attack Against Climate Action.
On Tuesday Night and Wednsday Morning, EPA Announced Plans to “Terminate” Hundreds of Inflation Reduction Act Grant Awards that are already under Contract. That includes eight awards help in citibank accounts Nearly 400 Smaller Environmental Justice and Community Pollution Control Grants were also terminated wedding after recipients discovered that their access Friday, Raising the Prospects that EPA Could Face Many Additional Lawsuits for Breach of Contract.
Three nonprofits that were awarded a combined $ 14 billion last year to expand lending for zero-carbon energy, transportation and building filed three separete lawsuits earlier That Had Been Frozen and Have Since Been “Terminated.” Climate united, which was awarded the largest grant of $ 7 billion, is suing EPA and Citibank, which is administering the program. The Coalition for Green Capital and Power Forward Communities Each Filed Suits Targeting The Bank, but the Coalition for Green for Green Capital Expeded Its Suit Wednsday to Include EPA EPA and Zeldin Affeter Federal agencies had pressured it to freeze the funds.
EPA on Wednsday also Committed to “Revisit” its social cost of Greenhouse Gas Emosphere
Zeldein said in a press release that Biden's epa used the metric, which it increases to $ 190 per ton“To advance their climate ageda in a way that imposed major costs.” He didnight say whether epa would stop using a social cost of carbon or propose a smaller one based on different assumptions.
Courts have directed federal agencies in the past to account for climate damages in their regulatory analyses, including by monetizing them. So, Opting not to do so in future rules should be legal Risky.
“The government has worked with social costs of greenhouse gases values for 15 years at this point, and to totally ignore theSE values - which was based on excellent science and ecoment Over Decades – to ignore that work entryly would be pretty legally fragt, “said Max Sarinsky, Regulatory Director at the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University.
But the Trump EPA Cold Opt to Change What Climate Damages It Includes in Its Metric and Cold Use A Higher Discount Rate for Future Costs, which would reduce the values and make less if you Policies Look More Cost-Effective.
EPA on Wednsday also pledged to return The reporting rule is the Basis for EPA's annual emissions inventory, which it submits to the united nations Each year. It also also informs regulations and other policy decisions.
This story also appears in EnergyWire.
Reprinted from E & e news With permission from Politico, LLC. Copyright 2025. E & E News Provides Essential News for Energy and Environment Professionals.
