The head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday announced draft plans to overturn a key scientific finding about greenhouse gases that forms the basis of many climate regulations, Axios reports.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced on Tuesday that he will issue draft plans to overturn a 2009 scientific finding that greenhouse gases pose a threat to human health and global welfare, which is key component of the Clean Air Act's legal basis.
"This is been referred to as basically driving a dagger into the heart of the climate change religion," Zeldin said on the podcast “Ruthless.”
He added that while the EPA is authorized the regulate greenhouse gases, it is not obligated to do so.
According to ClearView Energy Partners, a research firm that focuses on energy issues for investors, this decision could allow opponents of the greenhouse gas regulations imposed by the EPA "to fast-track their elimination by bringing lawsuits alleging that — without an underlying endangerment finding — the rules are arbitrary and capricious."
Environmental groups and scientists have criticized the plans, with the Environmental Defense Fund calling it "callous, dangerous and a breach of our government's responsibility to protect the American people from this devastating pollution."
Dan Becker, Director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement: "By revoking this key scientific finding [President Donald] Trump is putting fealty to Big Oil over sound science and people's health."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.