WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� In what he called the 鈥渕ost consequential day of deregulation in American history,鈥� the head of announced a series of actions Wednesday to roll back landmark environmental regulations, including rules on pollution from coal-fired power plants, climate change and electric vehicles.
鈥淲e are driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America鈥檚 Golden Age,'' said in an essay in The Wall Street Journal.
The Trump administration's actions will eliminate trillions of dollars in regulatory costs and 鈥渉idden taxes,鈥� Zeldin said, lowering the cost of living for American families and reducing prices for such essentials such as buying a car, heating your home and operating a business.
鈥淥ur actions will also reignite American manufacturing, spreading economic benefits to communities," he wrote. 鈥淓nergy dominance stands at the center of America's resurgence.鈥�
In all, Zeldin said he is rolling back 31 environmental rules, including a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for U.S. action against .
Zeldin said he and President Donald Trump support that planet-warming greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. The Obama-era determination under the Clean Air Act is the legal underpinning of a host of climate regulations for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources.
Environmentalists and climate scientists call the endangerment finding a bedrock of U.S. law and say any attempt to undo it will have little chance of success.
鈥淚n the face of overwhelming science, it鈥檚 impossible to think that the EPA could develop a contradictory finding that would stand up in court," said David Doniger, a climate expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.
In a related action, Zeldin said EPA will rewrite a rule restricting and a separate measure . Zeldin and the Republican president incorrectly label the car rule as an electric vehicle "mandate.''
President Joe Biden's Democratic administration had said the power plant rules would reduce pollution and improve public health while supporting the reliable, long-term supply of electricity that America needs.
Biden, who made fighting climate change , cited the car rule as a key factor in what he called 鈥渉istoric progress鈥� on his pledge that half of all new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. will be zero-emission by 2030.
The EPA also will take aim at rules restricting industrial pollution of mercury and other air toxins, soot pollution and a intended to restrict smokestack emissions that burden downwind areas with smog. The EPA also targeted a clean water law that provides .
The agency has also terminated its diversity, equity and inclusion programs and will shutter parts of the agency focused on environmental justice, Zeldin said. The effort strived to improve conditions in areas heavily burdened by industrial pollution, mostly in low-income and majority-Black or Hispanic communities.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 about abandoning environmental protection 鈥� it鈥檚 about achieving it through innovation and not strangulation,鈥� Zeldin wrote. 鈥淏y reconsidering rules that throttled oil and gas production and unfairly targeted coal-fired power plants, we are ensuring that American energy remains clean, affordable and reliable.鈥�
University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann called the EPA鈥檚 action 鈥渏ust the latest form of Republican climate denial. They can no longer deny climate change is happening, so instead they鈥檙e pretending it鈥檚 not a threat, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that it is, perhaps, the greatest threat that we face today.鈥�
The directive to reconsider the endangerment finding and other EPA rules was a recommendation of Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trump鈥檚 second term. Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget and co-author of Project 2025, called the actions long overdue.
鈥淓PA鈥檚 regulation of the climate affects the entire national economy 鈥� jobs, wages and family budgets,鈥� Vought said Wednesday.
鈥淭he Trump administration鈥檚 ignorance is trumped only by its malice toward the planet,鈥� countered Jason Rylander, legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity鈥檚 Climate Law Institute. 鈥淐ome hell and high water, raging fires and deadly heatwaves, Trump and his cronies are bent on putting polluter profits ahead of people鈥檚 lives."
Reconsidering the endangerment finding and other actions 鈥渨on鈥檛 stand up in court,'' Rylander said. 鈥漌e鈥檙e going to fight it every step of the way.鈥�
The United States is the carbon polluter in the world, after China, and the largest of greenhouse gases.
The moves to terminate environmental justice staff follows an action last week to drop a case against a Louisiana petrochemical plant accused of increasing cancer risk in a majority-Black community. Zeldin called environmental justice a term that 鈥渉as been used primarily as an excuse to fund left-wing activists instead of actually spending those dollars to directly remediate environmental issues for those communities.鈥�
Matthew Tejada, who once led EPA鈥檚 environmental justice office, said Trump and Zeldin were "taking us back to a time of unfettered pollution across the nation, leaving every American exposed to toxic chemicals, dirty air and contaminated water.鈥� Tejada now works at the NRDC.
Anne Bradbury, CEO of the American Exploration & Production Council, an oil industry group, hailed Zeldin's actions and said the U.S. is 鈥渟tronger and more secure when we are energy dominant."
Her group has long called for changes to EPA rules so they are 鈥渨orkable, effective and build on the significant emissions reductions" made by oil and gas producers, Bradbury said. 鈥淲e support updating these rules so the American people can continue to benefit from affordable, reliable and clean American energy.鈥�
New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, called Zeldin's actions 鈥渁 despicable betrayal of the American people.鈥�
Every day, more Americans lose their jobs, homes and , Pallone said. Trump and Zeldin 鈥渁re making a mockery of those people鈥檚 pain,鈥� Pallone said, adding that "will have swift and catastrophic ramifications for the environment and health of all Americans.''
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Associated Press writer Michael Phillis in St. Louis contributed to this report.
Matthew Daly, The Associated Press
