Back in 2007, the Supreme Court’s climate change ruling, Massachusetts vs. Environmental Protection Agency, permitted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1992. Following the Court’s directive, and after extensive manipulation of the scientific process and disinformation spread by the mainstream media, Obama’s EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson issued the “Endangerment Finding” in 2009.
The agency decided that six key greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide, methane, and others) endanger both public health and welfare, laying the groundwork for hyper-regulation that restricted both prosperity and personal liberty. Those subsequent rules promulgated by the EPA allowed the agency to essentially conduct a “War on Fossil Fuels,” a “War on Appliances,” and a “War on Meat.” Biden’s ludicrous “Inflation Reduction Act” further fueled this inanity by codifying the “Green New Deal.”
During President Donald Trump’s first term in office, I noted that he was seeking advocates for sensible policy for his Department of Energy. During his second term, he has now unleashed the agency head, Lee Zeldin, to end the abuses of the “Endangerment Finding.”
Speaking at a truck dealership in Indianapolis, Mr. Zeldin said the E.P.A. planned to rescind the 2009 declaration, known as the endangerment finding, which concluded that planet-warming greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health. The Obama and Biden administrations used that determination to set strict limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars, power plants and other industrial sources of pollution.“The proposal would, if finalized, amount to the largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States,” Mr. Zeldin said. He said the proposal would also erase limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks on the nation’s roads.Without the endangerment finding, the E.P.A. would be left with no authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate the greenhouse gas emissions that are accumulating in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels.
I have no words to adequately convey the joy I feel at this news. I have been part of the CO2 Coalition for quite some time, as part of my early citizen activist work. There have been many hero scientists in this group who have been fighting the ludicrous ruling since it was first issued. The organization has put out a formal statement:
For more than 30 years, carbon dioxide has been demonized as a dangerous “greenhouse” gas by a cabal of special interests who pursued political science instead of true science. Since 2015, the CO2 Coalition has rebutted this narrative by educating the public about the beneficial role of the gas in nature and by insisting on rigorous scientific inquiry in deciding such matters. Thousands of scientists and researchers – both Coalition members and others – stood with us for the truth.We believe EPA’s action – and other reforms of rules covering power plants – could ultimately end foolish public policy that has wastefully diverted trillions of dollars toward a manufactured climate emergency and away from work that could have otherwise benefited people….The theory that carbon dioxide threatens to catastrophically overheat the planet is fearmongering supported by computer models that have proven repeatedly to be unreliable and by exaggerations of CO2’s warming potential. The dominant influences of climate change have always been the sun and variations in Earth’s orbit and axial tilt that manifest themselves in cycles spanning thousands of years.Over the past 80 years, the increase of atmospheric CO2 from human activity has resulted in an overall greening of most ecosystems and record production of food crops. These facts – supported by government data and reams of research – should be celebrated, and we will continue doing so.
The editorial board of the New York Post is also praising this move.
Back in 2009, Environmental Protection Agency functionaries listed carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as posing a public-health threat — not for any actual toxicity, but because of their role in speeding global warming.That in turn allowed for unprecedented EPA regulation of factories, power plants and auto emissions — including the hated stop-start feature.None of it ever made sense: Congress created the EPA in 1970 to fight actual poisons in our water and air, not to manage complex bank-shot contingencies as the “endangerment” finding envisioned….After all, anti-carbon mandates do major immediate harm to public health, by making electricity and other goods far more expensive: This green madness is a major reason why Western Europe has seen next to zero economic growth over the last two decades.
In this move, the administration is not only challenging science but also on legal arguments as well, suggesting the Obama-era finding overstepped the intended authority of the Clean Air Act. Of course, thanks to ObamaGate, we know Obama overstepped his authority on a significant number of issues.
Trump’s EPA has consistently advocated for stricter transparency rules, arguing that regulatory decisions should only rely on scientific studies whose data can be made fully public. The studies the “Endangerment Finding” relied on included health and environmental studies that were supported based on private or confidential data. This completely casts doubt on broad scientific findings underlying climate regulation.
“Man-made global warming” climate policy is a “quasi-religious” tenet and is not based on common sense nor sound, replicable science. The Obama-legacy policies unfairly prioritizes climate goals over economic realities and personal freedoms.
Another toxic legacy from the Obama era is about to be erased, thanks to Trump.
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