EPA Administrator Li Zidden testified in January before the Senate Environment and the Public Works Committee in January.
Ting Shen/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
Hide captions
Toggle caption
Ting Shen/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
Environmental Protection Agency announces more than two dozen rules and plans to target policies The agency called “The most fruitful day in American history.”
The EPA did not provide details about what it wants to do with the rules – whether it tries to weaken them or completely eliminate them. In most cases, the agency said it was revising the rules that apply to things like climate pollution from vehicles and power plants, wastewater from coal plants and air pollution from the fields of energy and manufacturing.
The agency presented is a “roadmap” of the rules that will try to return in the coming year, says Jason Railinder, the Legal Director of the Climate Law Institute at the Environment Group Center for Biological Diversity.
“This EPA plans to take a devastating ball in environmental law as we know.” “It seems that the EPA has to improve the ability to remove climate change and limit air pollution affecting public health.”
The EPA has told the NPR in an email that it does not have additional information about its plans to change or cancel environmental regulations.
EPA Administrator Li Zeldon, “We are running a straightforward dagger in the heart of climate change to live for American families, remove American energy, bring back auto jobs.” Said in a news release.
Reliand says the agency does not have to issue a list of rules that he plans to challenge. “But they have made it clear that they intend to start the process.”
Relnder says a so -called principle process is needed to restore federal environmental regulations that usually take a few years.
He added, “But we have seen that this administration wants to move forward at a pace that we do not often see.” “I suspect you will begin to see each of them in the coming weeks.”
Any EPA effort to rollback environmental rules will definitely face legal challenges.
“EPA Administrator Li Zeddon announced the most pollution plans in the decades today,” Amanda Lelland, Executive Director of the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement. “This will result in more toxic chemicals, more cancer, high asthma attacks, and more risks to pregnant women and their children. Instead of helping our economy, it will create chaos.”
Lelland said his group would “strongly oppose the illegal attack on Administrator Zidden on the health of the American public, which tries to tease the clean standards of life -saving.”
EPA says these are the rules that are re -considering for power plant emissions
The EPA says it will re -consider the final rules under the Biden administration Limit climate pollution from electric plants.
According to the EPA, power plants are the second largest source of hot greenhouse gases from the planet behind transport. Under the rules, existing coal and new natural gas -powered power plants that run more than 40 % of their time will have to eliminate 90 % of their carbon dioxide emissions, which is the main driver of global warming.
Rules took place after 2022 Is the Supreme Court decision that limited EPA powers To regulate power plant emissions. Justice said that without any particular law, the agency could not force the entire power industry to go to energy sources of low pollution from fossil fuel. Therefore, instead, under the Biden administration, the EPA created rules that ruled on individual power plants.
When the new rules were finalized last year, Manish Bapa, chief executive of the Natural Resources Defense Council, predicted that he would “advance the future clean energy economy, advance and good jobs” and assure the industry that it needs to be reliable, more reliable, more reliable.
However, some of the utility industry warned that sanctions would endanger the reliability of electricity.
Jim Mathenin, chief executive of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, in a statement currently presented through the EPA, is illegal, unrealistic and unacceptable. “
Zodland said in a news release on Wednesday that the EPA “is trying to ensure that the agency follows the rule of law while providing access to reliable and cheap energy to all Americans.”
Pollution from cars and trucks is also in the list of EPA
President Trump has preferred the Biden Administration’s multi -faceted pressure to support the transfer of electric vehicles. Restricting air pollution from vehicle’s telepides is an important part of this agenda to change the standard of EPA.
Former President Barack Obama has tightened the quality of fuel economy and EPA vehicles. During Trump’s first term, car makers lobed for low rules, but they were Caught from the guard Through how Trump dramatically reversed them. Were the next few years Clutter; Some car makers attacked a voluntary agreement with California Keep meeting their harsh rulesEven if it was not legally necessary.
Under the Biden administration, the standards increased Tightly with time With the rules designed to accelerate the transfer to EV. Current EPA standards do not make a certain number of EVs, but they have strictly determined the emission rules that carmakers must produce a large part of the vehicles without emission – two -thirds of vehicles sold up to 2032 to meet the rules.
With the decline in EV sales, some car makers have wondered if this is still possible and demanded to adjust the rules. But the industry is also disappointed to stop the back -back rules, which makes it difficult to plan future products. In a statement on Wednesday, the trading group, representing the carmakers, called for a “balanced approach”.
Environmental and public health groups support more aggressive standards, which reduce pollution, which causes asthma and heart disease as well as fighting climate change. So Groups of Consumer Advocacy: EPA was also Estimated New rules can save up to one trillion dollars in petrol during the life of the rules. But many critics, including the oil industry, have said that the rules are offended by consumers in favor of EV.
The EPA says the climate pollution puts the public at risk or not
The main part of many EPA steps on climate change is AH 2009 commitment Carbon dioxide and methane such as greenhouse gas pose a threat to public health. The EPA says it will now revise that the actions taken by the agency, in addition to the so -called danger, were determined.
Darren Bust, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competition Enterprise Institute, told the NPR in an email that the EPA has sought danger to “trying to control large parts of the economy”.
If the EPA determines that the risk of being at risk is no longer applicable, Bakes says it will “stop future greenhouse gas regulations.” He says it can also pave the way for some current rules to be canceled.
However, environmental groups say it would not be easy for the EPA to eliminate their commitment that greenhouse gas emissions are helpful in climate change. Science showing the effects of the heat of these emission The Supreme Court had given the agency authority in 2007 If it seems that they show that they play an important role in climate change.
“Since the danger, the condition of climate science has been significantly developed since the danger,” says Legal Director Rylander at the Biological Diversity Center. “I cannot imagine that on the basis of current science, no one is able to conclude that the pollution of greenhouse gas does not affect the climate and the public. So I am somewhat surprised that they think they will be able to eliminate it and stand in court.”
Relative scientists agree with the policy director, Rachel Clevers, with the climate and energy program in the union.
“We are watching the calamity of climate disasters devastating.” We have seen the loss of life from the jungle fire and the hurricane, floods, drought with great intensity. We are seeing so much economic losses from this kind of extreme climate disaster. “
The utility industry has also raised concerns about getting rid of danger. I To file to the US Supreme CourtEdison Electric Institute (EEI), a group that represents electricity efficacy, said that allowing EPA to regulate climate pollution gives a systematic system to reduce emission, while minimizing the economic impact on consumers and businesses. The group said that withdrawing the agency’s authority, companies could cause environmental cases. “This will be chaos.”
The EPA has repeatedly confirmed the risk detection, and in 2022, the Congress has added language to the inflation reduction act that labels greenhouse gases as pollution under the Clean Air Act.
Conrad Schneider, a senior director of the United States in the Clean Air Task Force, said in a statement: “This indication of dissolving air pollution is against the EPA against this responsibility to protect public health.”