US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday his administration's termination of a scientific finding that greenhouse gas emissions threaten public health and welfare, likely setting up a prolonged legal battle.
Trump hailed the decision as the "single largest deregulatory action in American history."
"Effective immediately, we are repealing the ridiculous endangerment finding and terminating all additional emission standards imposed unnecessarily on vehicle models and engines," Trump said in remarks delivered at the White House alongside Environmental Protection Agency Administration Lee Zeldin.
"This action will eliminate over $1.3 trillion of regulatory cost and help bring car prices tumbling down dramatically. You're going to get a better car. You're going to get a car that starts easier, a car that works better for a lot less money," he added.
What is known as the "endangerment finding" provided the federal government with the legal footing for regulating greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide and methane, under the Clean Air Act.
The effort to repeal the finding is all but certain to be met with fierce legal challenges.
"By scrapping vehicle global warming pollution standards today, the Trump administration has co-signed the release of more than 7 billion tons of planet-warming emissions nationally in the decades ahead," said Gretchen Goldman, the president of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
"Sacrificing people's health, safety and futures for polluters' profits is unconscionable. We all deserve better and this attack against the public interest and the best available science will be challenged. UCS stands ready to defend the Endangerment Finding in court and beyond," she added.
