Donald Trump, president of the United States, announced the reversal by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) of the classification of greenhouse gases as harmful to health and human health (“Endangerment Act”), thus opening the door to uncontrolled emissions from various local industries, including the automotive sector, whose emission standards have been tightened over the years. The opinion now reversed by the EPA dates back to 2009, when it established greenhouse gases as dangerous to the environment and also to human health, serving as the foundation for all subsequent environmental protection measures in the U.S.
In announcing the decision, Donald Trump again criticized the measure originally defined during Barack Obama's administration, with the current president stating that it had no scientific or legal basis, and that, “for generations, fossil fuels have saved millions of lives and lifted billions of people out of poverty around the world”.
One of the consequences of this reversal of environmental policies will be the end of limits on polluting emissions, clearly going against the trend of the rest of the world, especially Europe, which continues its electrification efforts. Trump referred to the current emission standards as “unnecessary for vehicle models and engines between 2012 and 2027 and beyond”.
The action also eliminates all emission credits, including start-stop, almost “universally hated”, it reads on the EPA's website, where it is also possible to read that this “historic measure (…) restores consumer choice, makes more affordable vehicles available to American families, and reduces the cost of living for all products by lowering the cost of trucks”.
“The Endangerment Act has been the source of sixteen years of restrictions on consumer choice, and trillions of dollars in hidden costs for Americans,” stated EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who believes the association “is strictly following the letter of the law, restoring common sense to policy, providing choice to American consumers, and promoting the American Dream”. Environmental protection associations in the U.S. have already criticized this review by the EPA and the Trump administration, with Barack Obama being one of the voices lamenting, through social media, that the environment and human health are once again left unprotected.
