MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Trump administration is moving to dismantle decades of key environmental and climate rules and policies.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
That announcement came yesterday in what Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin called the most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history, rolling back more than two dozen regulations. Environmental groups predict this will lead to a future with more pollution.
MARTIN: Jeff Brady from NPR's climate desk is here to tell us more about this. Good morning, Jeff.
JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So which regulations are being targeted?
BRADY: You know, probably the most significant is something called the endangerment finding. In 2009, the EPA determined that human-caused greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that are heating up the planet - those endanger public health and welfare. This decision was years in the making. Litigation that led to it went all the way to the Supreme Court, and now it's the basis for many of the country's climate regulations. EPA administrator Lee Zeldin put out a video statement that suggests he thinks it's not constitutional.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LEE ZELDIN: I've been told the endangerment finding is considered the Holy Grail of the climate change religion. For me, the U.S. Constitution and the laws of this nation will be strictly interpreted and followed. No exceptions.
MARTIN: What are some of the other regulations the EPA is reconsidering?
BRADY: Zeldin said the agency will reconsider rules that limit climate pollution from power plants and from cars and trucks. Also regulations that limit soot and mercury in the air - other rules that Zeldin claims are hurting the economy and costing trillions of dollars. But that leaves out the fact that pollution also costs the country, you know, in health costs and cleanup. It's not clear whether EPA plans to get rid of these rules or weaken them. Those details should come later.
MARTIN: And what are environmental groups saying about this?
BRADY: You know, this is even more dramatic than what they expected. And certainly more aggressive than the policies Trump pursued during his first administration. One group, the Environmental Integrity project, said the EPA is driving, quote, "a dagger straight into the heart of public health." I talked with Matthew Tejada at the Natural Resources Defense Council. He called this an all-out assault on the law, science, and the administrative part of the government that keeps people safe.
MATTHEW TEJADA: They're going to roll these things back, and they're going to take our country back to a time when rivers caught on fire and kids couldn't go outside without seizing up from an asthma attack.
BRADY: Just as the country is making this big transition from fossil fuels that are heating the planet to cleaner energy, Tejada says the Trump administration is tying the country to oil and gas for another century.
MARTIN: And what about the oil industry? How's the oil industry responding to this EPA announcement?
BRADY: Well, they're pretty happy. The American Petroleum Institute said voters picked Trump for cheaper energy, and now his administration is answering that call. And much of this fits with API's policy priorities, and we've already seen some of the biggest oil and gas companies reorient themselves from climate change concerns and back to fossil fuels.
MARTIN: And, Jeff, before we let you go, what are the next steps here?
BRADY: There just aren't many details in this announcement, but just that the EPA is going to reconsider these regulations. So assuming the typical process is followed, we should see some proposed rules, then comment periods before final rules. But, you know, environmental groups already say court challenges are coming.
MARTIN: That's Jeff Brady with NPR's climate desk. Jeff, thank you.
BRADY: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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