Trump's EPA Rips Biden's to Shreds With Sweeping Environment Rollbacks
President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday announced a wave of environmental rollbacks targeting Biden-era green policies, including carbon limits on power plants, tailpipe emissions standards and protections for waterways.
The 31 actions are part of what Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin called "the greatest and most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history," as he promised to "unleash American energy" and "revitalize the American auto industry."
- Also: Maintaining Your Vehicle is Good For Your Wallet... and the Environment!
- Also: Canadian Auto Industry Responds to Trump’s Tariffs, Sends Warnings
Among the most significant of them is revisiting a 2024 rule that requires coal-fired plants to eliminate nearly all their carbon emissions or commit to shutting down altogether, a cornerstone of former Democratic president Joe Biden's climate agenda.
Hailed by environmental groups as a "gamechanger," the regulations were set to take effect from 2032 and would have also required new, high capacity gas-fired plants to slash their carbon dioxide output by the same amount -- 90 percent -- achievable only through carbon capture technology.
The Biden administration estimated the rule would prevent 1.4 billion metric tons of carbon entering the atmosphere through the year 2047, equivalent to nearly one year of total greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector in 2022.
"Polluters Are Celebrating"
"Corporate polluters are celebrating today because Trump's EPA just handed them a free pass to spew unlimited climate pollution, consequences be damned," said Charles Harper, of the nonprofit Evergreen Action.
President Trump has long dismissed climate change as a "scam" and his second administration has begun enacting sweeping staff cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), vital to the nation's climate research efforts.
The new deregulation package also targets stricter vehicle emissions standards set to come into force by 2027, which Trump has derided as an "electric vehicle mandate."
Matthew Tejada of the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council said "Trump's EPA is taking us back to a time of unfettered pollution across the nation, leaving every American exposed to toxic chemicals, dirty air and contaminated water."
Zeldin's EPA budget is expected to be reduced by 65 percent and the agency is preparing for mass layoffs.
