The Trump administration’s proposal to repeal the legal foundation for regulating greenhouse gas emissions, according to Maine authorities, could jeopardize attempts to shield citizens from the most severe consequences of climate change.
Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, announced on Tuesday that the agency is proposing to remove the “endangerment finding.”
The 2009 ruling concluded that the United States’ limitations on emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other climate-warming gases are justified since these pollutants endanger public health and welfare.
“The finding is a prerequisite for regulating tailpipe pollution from new cars and trucks,” the EPA stated in a statement. Additionally, it intends to eliminate all motor vehicle greenhouse emissions regulations.
The EPA also said it plans to repeal a separate rule that addresses stationary pollution sources, including factories and power plants.
“With this proposal, the Trump EPA is proposing to end sixteen years of uncertainty for automakers and American consumers,” Zeldin stated in a press statement.
According to the EPA, Americans will save $54 billion annually if the rule is repealed and auto pollution limits are eliminated.
However, environmental organizations and Maine authorities caution that the decision’s repeal goes beyond motor vehicle regulations and represents the nation’s capitulation in the international struggle to slow down climate change.
Reversing the decision, according to Kate Sinding Daly, Senior Vice President for Law and Policy at the Conservation Law Foundation, goes against the scientific consensus that burning fossil fuels is the primary driver of climate change.
“What they are proposing to do is basically put a stake through the heart of any federal effort to address global warming pollution,” Daly said.
Removing the conclusion, according to political authorities in Maine, would impede efforts to address the root cause of natural disasters and climatic instability exacerbated by global warming.
In a statement, Governor Janet Mills said, “Maine is already dealing with extreme weather and flooding that threatens our environment, public health, and economy.”
“Allowing unchecked greenhouse gas emissions will only exacerbate these challenges and leave us susceptible to dangerous pollution from other states carried here by prevailing winds,” Mills said.
Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat representing Maine’s first congressional district, claimed that the Trump administration was putting fossil fuel firms’ interests ahead of the public health risks posed by disease, wildfires, storms, and deadly temperatures.
“By claiming that climate change poses no threat to public health, President Trump and Administrator Zeldin are making ignorance and denial the official climate policy of the U.S., while allowing the world s biggest polluters to continue destroying our planet,” Pingree stated in a statement.
Before the idea can be completed, it must go through a protracted public procedure that includes a public comment period. It will most likely be challenged in court.
