What Trump’s pledge to repeal EV, climate regulations mean to Michigan

• The Trump administration announced plans Wednesday to roll back dozens of federal environmental regulations, including auto tailpipe emissions standards
• If implemented, the policies would slow down the EV transition and allow more pollution from Michigan factories and power plants
• Details about any new policies weren’t immediately clear; rollbacks would likely face court challenges

The Trump administration on Wednesday announced plans for sweeping rollbacks of federal environmental regulations that would have huge implications for Michigan’s auto, energy and industrial sectors, as well as the environment and public health.

The staggering series of changes, which include a vow to reconsider emission standards to speed the transition to electric vehicles, comes after Michigan has invested heavily in clean energy and EV battery plants.

“We are driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin wrote in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal.

Perhaps most significantly nationally, the EPA will reconsider the so-called “endangerment finding,” a 2009 EPA declaration that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare. It has served as the scientific basis for a host of regulations that curb climate pollution from power plants, factories and automobiles. 

“We are driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age,” Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator

Zeldin called Wednesday’s flurry of announcements the “most consequential day of deregulation in American history.”

Environmentalists agree — but they don’t think it’s a good thing.

“Administrator Zeldin’s rollbacks are horrible,” said Charlotte Jameson, chief policy officer with the Michigan Environmental Council. “They strip away basic environmental protections Americans expect their nation to have, and our water, air and climate will be imperiled.

“While these rollbacks must stand challenges in court, it’s on state governments to fill the breach,” said Jameson, noting that Michigan law allows the state to set protections stronger than the federal government. 

“ If we act promptly, we can insulate our state from the worst harm.”