The White House announced that the U.S. Environmental and Protection Agency (EPA) would repeal on Thursday the “endangerment finding”, a scientific conclusion that greenhouse gases are dangerous to public health and welfare.
The endangerment finding, enacted in 2009, was based on peer-reviewed scientific evidence and required the federal government to regulate emissions from burning oil, coal and gas.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the EPA endangerment findings’ repeal “the largest deregulatory action in American history” and claims that it will “save the American people $1.3 trillion in crushing regulations”.
However, 350.org said the claimed savings ignore the far greater costs of unchecked climate pollution, noting that the long-term social costs of emissions from US companies are estimated at $87 trillion.
Anne Jellema, 350.org Executive Director, said, “This isn’t about saving taxpayers’ money, it’s about saving an industry that has already been exposed as a permanent danger to American families.
“Climate denialism will bleed the people dry.”
Jellema added, “While the Trump administration can manipulate scientific agencies, it can never suppress the truth that ordinary people in the U.S. and around the world are paying the real price for Big Oil’s profits: lives are being lost, homes are being destroyed, and costs are soaring.
“By giving Big Oil a license to pollute even more, the EPA is defying international law and piling more damage on communities in the U.S. and around the world. But this extraordinary move will only strengthen global demands to make climate polluters pay.”
