It's the Economy, Stupid
Deregulation may not be the immediate priority, but it's still on the agenda
Lee Zeldin’s EPA Rights an Environmental Wrong
Zeldin is undoing the core of the EPA’s 21st century push.
‘“By overhauling massive rules on the endangerment finding, the social cost of carbon and similar issues, we are driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age,” Zeldin wrote in a Wednesday Wall Street Journal op-ed. “As a result, the cost of living for American families will decrease, and essentials such as buying a car, heating your home, and operating a business will become more affordable. Our actions will also reignite American manufacturing, spreading economic benefits to communities.”
‘Climate activists are fit to be tied over the EPA’s decision to curtail its own regulatory authority — an act of infamy among proponents of a permanent bureaucracy insulated from the will of the voters — but Zeldin is not wholly focused on removing regulatory barriers to innovation and commerce. Zeldin’s maneuver helps restore a measure of sanity to U.S. policymaking that Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg found unconvincing.
‘In 2007, the liberal majority on that Court rejected the notion that the United States should not aggressively regulate greenhouse gas emissions because other nations were more aggressive contributors to this global problem, and hamstringing ourselves would do little to address the issue. In addition, the justices determined that the Clean Air Act was designed to be as “capacious” as possible so it would cover whatever environmental cause célèbre came down the pike. It was a classic attempt to impose not just public policy but ideology on the country from the Supreme Court bench.’
Editor's Note: EPA says it will roll back climate rules. That could prove complicated
NPR may underestimate the administration’s preparation for the process.
‘Amending federal rules and regulations is different — changes are likely to be felt over a much longer time horizon.. That's because the foundational environmental laws of the country prescribe a process for making and unmaking rules. The EPA has to publish what its new rule will look like–a "proposed rule. EPA then seeks public comment on the rule and responds to that feedback. It also must get input from other federal agencies that might be affected by the changes EPA proposes. Industry and advocates have an opportunity to weigh in. The process takes months, if not longer, before a final rule is issued.
‘If the Trump administration tries to short-circuit these processes, its critics will likely sue and the courts could rule against EPA on process grounds. In any event, environmental advocates are likely to sue the regulator on most, if not all, the announced changes. That could further slow things down.’
The administration is accused of populism but then CBS tells us that this environmental policy is not popular.
It’s possible that people, when asked in a survey, will indicate that they’re all for carbon regulation but still favor lower costs and more economically sustainable transition paths.
‘But a new update to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication's Climate Opinion Maps suggests most Americans support at least some environmental regulation.
‘Yale's study is based on estimates from large national surveys totaling more than 32,000 people between November 2008 and December 2024. Some questions have been included since the beginning, but Yale researchers also added questions over the years.’
EPA Chief Says 31 Actions Being Taken to Roll Back Environmental Regulations
The pendulum swings.
‘A majority of the actions are reconsiderations of existing policies, including regulations on power plants, the oil-and-gas industry, vehicles and wastewater, Zeldin said Wednesday. Standards for mercury, pollutants, greenhouse-gas emissions and air quality are also being reviewed.’
Alex Epstein Tweet Thread on EPA
Good summary of the changes.
‘Did the EPA really just take the "Biggest Deregulatory Action in U.S. History"? Actually, yes. Here are 18 important deregulatory actions EPA announced today, and why they will make life better for all of us.’
Trump’s Biggest Climate Decision
Could the recent San Francisco decision on pollution in the Pacific give Zeldin some cover?
‘The climate lobby now says Mr. Zeldin doesn’t have legal authority to rescind the endangerment finding. But agencies re-examine past decisions all the time. Mr. Zeldin can reconsider EPA’s greenhouse-gas findings in light of new or other evidence.
‘Most of the science cited in the Obama endangerment finding—e.g., climate change will harm U.S. agriculture and increase the size and frequency of wildfires—is debatable. The finding that U.S. CO2 emissions will directly harm Americans is even more tenuous.
‘Unlike pollutants explicitly covered by the Clean Air Act, CO2 emissions don’t affect local air quality. Their impact on global temperatures is intermediated by other factors like cloud cover. Curbing CO2 emissions in the U.S. will have scant impact on Americans, especially as India and China emit with abandon.’
Sunnova Prepares Restructuring Talks That Could Include Bankruptcy Filing
Is there any visibility on when solar panel installers and “financiers” can survive without heavy government subsidies?
‘Houston-based Sunnova, founded in 2012, is one of the main rooftop solar panel installers and financiers in the United States. Like most players in the sector, Sunnova has struggled as demand weakened for rooftop solar panel installations. Competitor SunPower filed for bankruptcy last year as its financial situation deteriorated.
‘Uncertainties around state and federal tax benefits for solar installations and the potential loss of future loan guarantees offered by the U.S. Department of Energy also are weighing on Sunnova’s business outlook.
‘In 2023, the Energy Department, through the Loan Programs Office, committed to guaranteeing up to $3 billion in debt securities issued by Sunnova to support rooftop solar installations as part of the Biden administration’s green financing initiative.
‘That initiative includes hundreds of billions of dollars in tax credits and loans for clean energy, climate tech startups and other green businesses. However, its future is uncertain as the Trump administration undertakes a sweeping overhaul of federal agencies.’
Solar Project Backed by Biden ‘Gold Bars’ Vows to Save Millions, Protect the Earth. Critics Doubt It
When the government outsources its duties to fund (or not to fund) projects in the public interest, it also outsources accountability.
If that money goes to political allies, well, that’s just a pleasant coincidence.
‘A politically connected left-wing nonprofit aims to draw on tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to finance a new solar energy project which they claim will save Arkansas’s university system tens of millions of dollars while drastically reducing carbon emissions — but the project’s backers can’t, or won’t, show the math behind their rosy projections.
‘Proponents of the project — 18 separate solar projects, mostly in rural areas — claim it could save the University of Arkansas System over $120 million in energy costs over 25 years and generate over four billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity over 40 years; the equivalent of removing over 7 billion passenger car miles from the roads or planting 46 million trees.
‘To get the project off the ground, the left-wing nonprofit Climate United announced in October that it would provide $31.8 million in federal dollars for pre-construction financing — for things like making utility interconnection deposits, securing American-made equipment, and acquiring land. The taxpayer-financed loan is supposed to come from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, or GGRF, a pot of $20 billion for green-energy projects established by the so-called Inflation Reduction Act under the Biden administration.’
Lee Zeldin: EPA Ends the ‘Green New Deal’
Zeldin claims to restore balance and sanity to environmental regulation.
‘Yesterday was the most consequential day of deregulation in American history. Alongside President Trump, we announced that the Environmental Protection Agency will take 31 actions to advance his day-one executive orders and power the Great American Comeback.
‘By overhauling massive rules on the endangerment finding, the social cost of carbon and similar issues, we are driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age. These actions will roll back trillions of dollars in regulatory costs and hidden taxes. As a result, the cost of living for American families will decrease, and essentials such as buying a car, heating your home and operating a business will become more affordable. Our actions will also reignite American manufacturing, spreading economic benefits to communities.’