Noteworthy News

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EPA aims to cut pollution rules projected to save nearly 200,000 lives: ‘Real people will be hurt’

A push by Donald Trump’s administration to repeal a barrage of clean air and water regulations may deal a severe blow to US public health, with a Guardian analysis finding that the targeted rules were set to save the lives of nearly 200,000 people in the years ahead.

Last week, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provoked uproar by unveiling a list of 31 regulations it will scale back or eliminate, including rules limiting harmful air pollution from cars and power plants; restrictions on the emission of mercury, a neurotoxin; and clean water protections for rivers and streams.

Lee Zeldin, the EPA’s administrator, called the extraordinary series of rollbacks the “greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen” and declared it a “dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion”. One of the most consequential actions will see the EPA reconsider a landmark 2009 finding that greenhouse gases harm human health, which has been used to underpin laws aimed at addressing the climate crisis.

But the rules targeted by Zeldin have immediate, measurable benefits to Americans’ health even without considering the longer-term impacts of the climate crisis. In total, the regulations on the hit list will prevent nearly 200,000 deaths over the next 25 years, by helping avoid an array of heart, respiratory and other health problems worsened by air and water pollution, according to assessments conducted by the EPA itself.

Trump’s EPA has said its immolation of environmental protections will “roll back trillions in regulatory costs and hidden ‘taxes’ on US families”. However, the agency’s own analyses shows that the regulations save the US economy far more money than it costs businesses to implement new pollution controls, by a factor of around six to one.

[emphasis mine]

I've said it before but I'll keep on saying it because it needs to be said: Trump is a fucking simpleton. I bet he's the world's worse chess player because he rarely thinks even two moves ahead. Talk about penny-wise and pound-foolish. The mindless idiot seems to have no concept of consequences of short-term gains. It's nice if you can take out your opponent's knight in one move - but not if it means you lose your queen three moves later.