Trump Admin Moves To Blow Up ‘Costly’ Enviro Program Obama Rolled Out

The Trump administration is moving to scrap an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program projected to save American businesses up to $2.4 billion in regulatory costs, according to the agency.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin proposed a rule Friday to eliminate the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), which requires certain companies and facilities to report their greenhouse gas emissions data and “other relevant information,” according to the agency. This marks the latest deregulatory move from Zeldin, who on July 29 proposed rolling back the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which energy sector experts have explained to the Daily Caller News Foundation previously is a cornerstone Obama-era regulation that has been used to impose draconian rules on power plants.

“Alongside President Trump, EPA continues to live up to the promise of unleashing energy dominance that powers the American Dream. The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is nothing more than bureaucratic red tape that does nothing to improve air quality,” Zeldin said on Friday. “Instead, it costs American businesses and manufacturing billions of dollars, driving up the cost of living, jeopardizing our nation’s prosperity and hurting American communities. With this proposal, we show once again that fulfilling EPA’s statutory obligations and Powering the Great American Comeback is not a binary choice.” (RELATED: Trump EPA Reportedly Axing Obama-Era Greenhouse Gas Emissions Disclosure Rule

U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden share a laugh as the US Senior Men’s National Team and Brazil play during a pre-Olympic exhibition basketball game at the Verizon Center on July 16, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith via Getty Images)

The EPA said the change could save American businesses as much as $2.4 billion in compliance costs, while still meeting applicable Clean Air Act (CAA) statutory requirements. Congress provided the EPA $3.5 million in 2008 under the Consolidated Appropriations Act to begin the GHGRP, which was later “promulgated” by former President Barack Obama and began collecting data in 2010, according to the agency.

The rule change would strip companies of a “costly” regulatory burden that adds up to $2.4 billion, according to the EPA. The agency argues that by “reducing the overall regulatory burden,” companies that must now report could channel compliance costs and efforts towards “actual, tangible environmental benefits.”

“Unlike other mandatory information collections under the CAA, the GHGRP is not directly related to a potential regulation and has no material impact on improving human health and the environment,” the EPA said Friday. “If finalized, the proposal would remove reporting obligations for most large facilities, all fuel and industrial gas suppliers, and CO2 injection sites.”

Zeldin has made several other deregulatory moves in line with President Donald Trump’s agenda to “unleash American energy” and to initiate the “great American comeback,” according to the EPA. Ahead of announcing the plan for axing the Endangerment Finding, he said on the conservative podcast Ruthless that “repealing it will be the largest deregulatory action in the history of America.”

The EPA initially announced that it was reconsidering the program on March 12, and the proposed rule must still go through the federal rulemaking process and will be open for public comment.

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