Trump EPA Overturns Bogus Obama Greenhouse Gas Rule

The Trump EPA has revoked the Obama Administration’s 2009 “endangerment finding,” which classified greenhouse gases as a threat to public health, marking a significant rollback of climate regulations, and saving American taxpayers over $1.3 trillion.

The 2009 Obama EPA decision determined that certain greenhouse gases (GHG) endanger public health and welfare, but lacked scientific proof. The Obama EPA used temperature changes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center as Technical Support. The subsequent regulations have impacted everything from vehicle tailpipe emissions to the release of greenhouse gases from power plants and other businesses deemed polluters by the government.

It was only about control.

Supporters of the bogus GHG rule claim because of overturning this rule, pollution will increase, and people will die because of the rollback.

“It has nothing to do with public health – it was all a scam, a giant scam,” President Trump told media. He also announced that because of the Obama and Biden era EPA regulations, the cost of a car increased by 22 percent.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced Thursday the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history – the revocation of the bogus 16-year-old Obama Greenhouse Gas Rule. Zeldin said with this move, the EPA is saving American taxpayers over $1.3 trillion, eliminating both the Obama-era 2009 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Endangerment Finding and all subsequent federal GHG emission standards for all vehicles and engines of model years 2012 to 2027 and beyond.

The action also eliminates the almost universally hated start-stop feature in modern autos.

“EPA’s historic move restores consumer choice, makes more affordable vehicles available for American families, and decreases the cost of living on all products by lowering the cost of trucks,” the EPA said.

This major deregulatory process included substantial public input and robust analysis of the law following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and West Virginia v. EPA.

The 2009 “endangerment finding” was the basis for regulating greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. This move is seen as a significant rollback of climate regulations and has sparked criticism for potentially increasing pollution and undermining efforts to combat climate change.

The climate change industrial complex is about to get a rude awakening.

This rule change has been in the works. In April, the Globe reported that President Trump issued an executive order targeting California’s climate change laws and policies, specifically naming California’s sketchy Cap and Trade  program, which ostensibly facilitates greenhouse gas emission reductions. It’s really just a shakedown of California businesses.

Trump is promoting “all of the above” energy policy, including nuclear power… even in California.

In the 16 years the Obama GHG rule was in place, there was never any science produced to justify the devastating, business-killing rule.

“After carefully considering and reevaluating the legal foundation of the 2009 Endangerment Finding and the text of the Clean Air Act, in light of subsequent legal developments and court decisions,  the EPA concluded the Clean Air Act does not provide statutory authority for EPA to order motor vehicle and engine emission standards, including for the purpose of addressing global climate change. They concluded that there was no legal basis for the Endangerment Finding and resulting regulations.”

“The EPA firmly believes the 2009 Endangerment Finding made by the Obama Administration exceeded the agency’s authority to combat ‘air pollution’ that harms public health and welfare, and that a policy decision of this magnitude, which carries sweeping economic and policy consequences, lies solely with Congress. Unlike our predecessors, the Trump EPA is committed to following the law exactly as it is written and as Congress intended—not as others might wish it to be.”

“The Endangerment Finding has been the source of 16 years of consumer choice restrictions and trillions of dollars in hidden costs for Americans,” said Administrator Zeldin. “Referred to by some as the ‘Holy Grail’ of the ‘climate change religion,’ the Endangerment Finding is now eliminated. The Trump EPA is strictly following the letter of the law, returning commonsense to policy, delivering consumer choice to Americans and advancing the American Dream. As EPA Administrator, I am proud to deliver the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history on behalf of American taxpayers and consumers. As an added bonus, the off-cycle credit for the almost universally despised start-stop feature on vehicles has been removed.”

The 2009 Endangerment Finding was used to justify trillions of dollars in regulations, including the Obama and Biden Administrations’ illegal push towards EV mandates and compliance requirements, the EPA said.

The final rule will save Americans over $1.3 trillion by removing the regulatory requirements that exist solely to support the vehicle greenhouse gas regulatory regime.

California’s sketchy Cap-and-Trade Program

California’s cap-and-trade program places a “cap” on aggregate greenhouse gas emissions from businesses and utilities deemed “polluters” by the California Air Resources Board, which the CARB says are responsible for most of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The California Air Resources Board has taken a great deal of liberty, particularly with its interpretation of AB 32, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. The CARB devised the cap-and-trade system whereby it holds a quarterly auction program requiring selected California employers to bid significant amounts of money for the privilege of continuing to pollute — or be faced with closing their doors.

What the CARB fails to acknowledge is that wildfire smoke is causing most of California’s air pollution – not tailpipe emissions or manufacturing plants, livestock, or crops. Yet in a recent CARB report, this chart doesn’t even list wildfires as a contributor to air pollution, showing the fraud that the California Air Resources Board is perpetrating, and why the EPA greenhouse gas rules change is so important.

Be sure to re-read Gov. Newsom’s Climate Grift Spent $33 Billion in Cap-and-Trade to ‘Make Communities Cleaner And Healthier’ 

This is why the EPA rule change is so important.