By Matt Underwood Trump’s EPA to repeal core of greenhouse gas rules in a major deregulatory move. This is, without a doubt, the biggest deregulatory step in U.S. history, and it’s setting off alarm bells everywhere. It’s like they’re actively dismantling the safeguards put in place to protect our environment and, by extension, our health. The sheer scale of this move is hard to fathom, with consequences that will ripple through every aspect of life.
EPA head claims carbon dioxide’s benefits are overlooked, which, frankly, is a jaw-dropping statement. This is, to put it mildly, a controversial take, going directly against the mountain of scientific evidence that points to the detrimental impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. We’re talking about ignoring decades of research, countless studies, and a global consensus on the urgent need to address climate change. It makes you wonder, what exactly are these “benefits” they’re talking about?
The Endangerment Finding, established back in 2009, has faced its share of legal challenges, but has consistently been upheld. This finding, which acknowledges the threat posed by greenhouse gas emissions, was pivotal. It was a landmark ruling that paved the way for regulations aimed at curbing these emissions. But now, with this rollback, we’re potentially stepping back from those crucial protections. The Supreme Court’s 2007 ruling made it clear that the EPA was responsible for assessing the health impacts of emissions. Now, this whole foundation is at risk.
A formal announcement of this sweeping policy change was scheduled for Tuesday in Indiana. It makes you wonder about the timing. A lot of people see these moves as distractions, perhaps intended to draw attention away from other issues. It certainly feels like we’re in the middle of some serious upheaval, and it’s hard to predict exactly where it will lead.
This is not just about the environment. It’s about what kind of future we want to live in. There will be fun repercussions aside from environmental regulations like not being able to consider proximity to roads when building things like schools. And the added benefit that it will help eliminate watershed protections and air protections. We know not to run cars in a closed garage, but if its outside it just goes somewhere else and is totally fine. Meanwhile the soot and particulates will just build up. It won’t happen quickly of course, so there will be plenty of finger pointing when things get bad enough again.
The whole thing is a bit of a head-scratcher, because at the time the Supreme Court upheld the regulations that would protect us from climate change, and now it seems like we’re going to go in the opposite direction. It’s hard not to be concerned about the long-term repercussions, but hey, the cost of damage is a whole other conversation! This feels like the opposite of progress.
The impact on public health is another huge worry. Imagine the health consequences of a rollback on air and water protections. The return of smog-choked cities and the potential for increased respiratory illnesses.
It all feels surreal, like we’re in a dystopian novel. The damage won’t be quantified for another hundred years… by then they‘ll be dead and won’t care. It’s easy to lose hope when you see these kinds of decisions being made, but we’re not going to give up hope.
It’s like a massive experiment with the planet as the lab rat. They literally are planning to bring back asbestos, this is not a joke. They are behaving like literal comic villains. I’d imagine it would look a lot line the images I constantly see of Chinese cities and the smog, and everyone HAS to wear a mask to be able to breathe.
This all feels like a betrayal of the public trust. The EPA’s mission is to protect human health and the environment, and this policy seems to be doing just the opposite. The fact that the United States is turning its back on science and the rest of the world will suffer as climate change is a global problem that cannot be isolated to a single country.