Of all the changes that Lee Zeldin proposed to EPA regulations, ’the greatest one by far is the “Endangerment Finding,”’ energy policy expert Dan Kish said.
In his new role as head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lee Zeldin has proposed changes that would fundamentally alter government regulation of America’s energy and transportation industries—if the changes can survive legal challenges from environmental groups.
On March 12, Zeldin announced what he called “31 historic actions in the greatest and most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history.”
“We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S., and more,” Zeldin said in an official statement.
These changes, he said, would “roll back trillions in regulatory costs and hidden ‘taxes’ on U.S. families” and make it “more affordable to purchase a car, heat homes, and operate a business.”
The announcement sparked both applause and condemnation.
“The EPA’s recent deregulatory shift reflects a philosophy of regulatory humility and away from Washington micromanagement,” Sarah Montalbano, energy and environmental policy expert at the Center for the American Experiment, told The Epoch Times. “The EPA is reconsidering unworkable greenhouse gas regulations on power plants.
“This rule would have forced reliable coal plants to retire and impeded new natural gas plant construction unless they capture 90 percent of their emissions by 2032. It’s great news for utilities and American consumers that reliable generation like coal and natural gas can stay on the table and avert devastating blackouts.”
Environmental groups saw it differently.
“Mr. Zeldin seems to have lost sight of the mission of the Environmental Protection Agency,” Jason Rylander, legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, told The Epoch Times. “EPA’s job is to protect the environment and public health, not to promote American industry.
“EPA’s rules already reflect a balance that more than takes into account the interests of America’s automakers, power plants, and manufacturers.”
The Endangerment Finding
Of all the changes that Zeldin has proposed regarding EPA regulation, “the greatest one by far is the ‘Endangerment Finding,’” Dan Kish, policy expert at the Institute for Energy Research, told The Epoch Times. “It’s the entire premise of the regulation of carbon dioxide as a pollutant, which is the underpinning of everything that the government has targeted” regarding climate action, he said.
