Barack Obama has come out swinging against DonaldTrump's decision to bin a cornerstone climate rule, saying Americans will be 'less safe, less healthy' whilst fossil fuel companies rake in bigger profits.
The former president didn't hold back after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Thursday it was scrapping the 2009 endangerment finding—a scientific ruling that said greenhouse gases threaten people's health. That finding has been the backbone of pretty much every federal climate rule for cars, power stations and factories for nearly two decades.
Trump stood at theWhite Houseandcalled it'the largest deregulatory action in American history, by far'. EPA administratorLee Zeldinbranded the endangerment finding 'the Holy Grail of federal regulatory overreach'. The repeal wipes out all greenhouse gas rules for vehicles made between 2012 and 2027, and could gut regulations on power plants and oil and gas sites.
Obamafired backon social media straightaway. 'Without it, we'll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change—all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money,' he wrote.
The whole thing started with aSupreme Courtcase back in 2007. Massachusetts and other statessuedthe EPA, and the court ruled that greenhouse gases count as pollutants under the Clean Air Act. Two years later, Obama's EPA made it official—six greenhouse gases endanger public health.
Courts have backed up that finding repeatedly. When fossil fuel groups tried to challenge it in 2012, the appeals court shot them down.
But now Trump's team is binning the lot. He's been calling climate change a 'hoax' for years, and on Thursday, he doubled down. 'It has nothing to do with public health,' Trump told reporters. 'It just was all a scam, a giant scam.'
The timing's grim. Last year, America got hammered by 23 separate billion-dollar weather disasters. TheLos Angelesfires alone caused £65 billion in damage. Flash floods in Texas killed at least 138 people.
Massachusetts Attorney GeneralAndrea Joy Campbellisn't having it. She's pledged to take the EPA to court, saying the repeal 'shows just how far this Administration will go to grant favours to polluters—ignoring clear Supreme Court precedent, basic facts, and decades of scientific research'.
California Governor Gavin Newsom and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, who lead the US Climate Alliance, called it 'unlawful' and said it 'ignores basic science, and denies reality'. The American Lung Association and American Public Health Association have already said they're suing.
Source: International Business Times UK
