Trump slashes crucial climate regulation

In a bold move, President Trump has scrapped a cornerstone Obama-era decision on greenhouse gases, claiming this will relieve the auto industry of crippling costs. This ruling underpinned federal efforts to reduce emissions, especially in automobiles, but Trump calls it a damaging relic of the past.

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The 2009 "endangerment finding," which labelled greenhouse gases a public health threat, is now history. Trump, in a fiery Oval Office address, blasted the ruling as a "disastrous" policy that inflated car prices and strangled the American auto industry.

According to the White House, reversing this ruling marks the "largest deregulation in American history." It estimates a cost reduction of $2,400 per vehicle for manufacturers, heralding cheaper cars for consumers.

Environmental groups, however, are not taking this lightly. They describe the rollback as the most significant climate setback and are poised to challenge the decision in courts. Former President Obama has also stepped into the fray, warning that this repeal makes Americans "less safe and healthy," while boosting fossil fuel profits.

The original 2009 EPA finding was a bedrock for US climate efforts. It identified greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane as hazardous to health, setting off a decade of federal regulation aimed at curbing emissions across multiple sectors.

Environmentalists argue that this move could force the US to bear an additional $1.4 trillion in fuel costs. They warn of increased health risks, predicting more asthma attacks and thousands of premature deaths. The cost savings Trump touts? Critics call them overblown.

While some in the US car industry are hopeful, they fear overseas markets may shun less efficient American vehicles. Legal challenges seem inevitable, as states and non-profits prepare to fight back, possibly leading to courtroom battles.

There's also a scientific debate at play. A Department of Energy report, crafted under questionable circumstances, challenges accepted science on greenhouse gases. This report bolstered Trump's reversal, but its accuracy and legitimacy are under fire.

Legal experts suggest this is more than policy change. The Trump administration may be gearing up for a Supreme Court showdown, aiming for a permanent reinterpretation of greenhouse gas regulation. This would cement the rollback as untouchable, irrespective of future administrations.

The stage is set for a monumental legal and environmental clash. Will Trump's gamble to weaken climate regulations pay off, or will it ignite the very fight he seems eager to settle in court?

Key Takeaways

• Trump reverses a pivotal 2009 climate rule.

• Legal battles loom over potential health impacts.

• A Supreme Court showdown may redefine climate law.

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  Adapted by ASEAN Now · Source · 12 Feb 2026

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Scrapping the “endangerment finding” doesn’t repeal the physics.

Greenhouse gases either trap heat or they don't. Decades of peer‑reviewed science says they do!

Policy can shift, but atmospheric chemistry remains unchanged.

Allowing U.S. cars to become less fuel‑efficient when overseas markets that demand cleaner vehicles is guaranteed to hurt American auto sales abroad.

More winning from Trump, if only the world had more leaders like Trump!

Net Zero is the ultimate woke con game, destroying our civilization.

Great news.

The doomsday cultists will have to find another way to apply crippling taxes to businesses and ordinary people.

They really need a new child deity now that Thunberg's lies and propaganda are no longer shielded by their cries of "but she's just a kid".

Another gift to Trump’s billionaire funders at cost to the environment and the health of millions..

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Another gift to Trump’s billionaire funders at cost to the environment and the health of millions..

Bingo!!not to worry when we evict the ped…..president from the whitehouse I’m sure that’s one of the first things that will get changed..that and a lot of buildings will have their original names restored.his stupid tariffs are another things messing up the auto industry and making them more expensive.

Trump doesn’t care about the environment he doesn’t care about the American people he doesn’t care about anything about himself he probably has a side deal knowing knows about some company all he cares about is his personal wealth the worst president to ever be elected in America TIT

44 minutes ago, Tug said:

Bingo!!not to worry when we evict the ped…..president from the whitehouse I’m sure that’s one of the first things that will get changed..that and a lot of buildings will have their original names restored.his stupid tariffs are another things messing up the auto industry and making them more expensive.

His replacement will need the first 4 years and a 40' container of sharpies just reversing all of the stupid sh_t the fool's put in place.

The most ignorant president in history continues his rampage against the people of planet

earth.

The sceptic will argue that anything we do could not possibly influence the climate, or effect the atmosphere. The planet is simply too large, and the population is too small to have any effect. Let the ships dump whatever they want into the ocean. The ocean is simply too large for anything we do to damage it. 

This frees them to buy as many plastic bottles as they please, drive filthy diesel vehicles, and behave as if nothing effects anything. 

It's not us. It is just a cycle. We are not responsible. Don is. This incredibly foul, toxic and rabid dog of a president has much blood, sorrow and guilt on his hands and will go down in history as the 2nd worst president in American history. He is a human atrocity.

Fortunately his popularity is descending into the toilet, and his approval rating is at an all-time low amongst recent presidents, as his failures have been epic.

Broader polling averages underscore the depth of Trump’s disapproval.

CNN’s Poll of Polls, updated through February 5, 2026, puts Trump at 39 percent approval and 59 percent disapproval, for a –20 net rating. The aggregator draws from a blend of high‑quality national surveys, including NPR/PBS/Marist, Marquette Law School, Pew Research Center, and Reuters/Ipsos.

Rasmussen’s daily tracker, more traditionally conservative, now puts him at 42 percent approval and 57 percent disapproval—a net –15—underscoring how persistent the negative mood remains across different polling methods and voter groups.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-approval-rating-record-nate-silver-11495027?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwdGRjcAP65FRjbGNrA_rjRWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHlDkW9X3wqCnzjs32Mve4KbMIVRXz6BgSi8I9bBmbpX6HjMCIobXqAJ5zvHa_aem_7HWduMHrhcno9k6LreOeIA

 

Another Trump's "let them eat cake ' moment. The public will have to endure the health risk and pollution related deaths while the leadership and their wealthy billionaires can afford HEPA filters. While EU, China, Japan and the rest of the develped world is getting more stringent with furher pollutant standards, the White House dementia challenged buffoon is abandoning his responsibilty to take care of the people. Life expectancy in US has been declining and this major greenhouse axing if legally passed will just add to the cause.

The whole Trump brand is the kiss of death. Everything th e village idiot touches goes bust. Pure evil and is only trying to enrich himself at the expence of all the americans. The most self centred egomaniac in the history of the planet.

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

More winning from Trump, if only the world had more leaders like Trump!

Net Zero is the ultimate woke con game, destroying our civilization.

Yeah, but what if you are wrong?

3 hours ago, Jim Waldron said:

Allowing U.S. cars to become less fuel‑efficient when overseas markets that demand cleaner vehicles is guaranteed to hurt American auto sales abroad.

And Trump will declare that to be a "trade barrier" and raise tariffs on American consumers.....again.

Same as when he applied "reciprocal tariffs" to Japanese and Korean vehicles (Japan and Korea levy 0% tariffs on US cars) because US vehicles do not meet either emissions or safety standards, or are too large for narrower roads.

Really terrible, really dumb move so, of course, it comes from old, senile Trump who could care less what he is leaving for the future. What he is leaving is a mess--and maybe the death of the American auto industry.

Spouse and I recently visited Shanghai and it was a real eye-opener. All the motorcycles were electric and it looked like the majority of the autos in the center city area were some sort of electric--either all electric or hybrids. You could tell these models as they have green license plates and the gas cars still have blue plates.

It was great walking around the city as the traffic noise was so different from, say, Bangkok. So quiet! I really felt like I had stepped into a city 10 years in the future, but here to see today. It was almost eerie. Most of the blue license cars were American, European, and Japanese. Most of the green plates were Chinese brands.

Trump, and the American auto makers, are sticking their collective heads in the sand, ignoring what is clearly the future, while they retreat into the past. What I took away from my trip to Shanghai was a sense that the European, Japanese, and American auto makers need to step on the gas with their electric vehicles. Instead, the Americans, at least, are stepping on the brake. In China, all those cars with blue plates just looked so out-of-step. And, frankly, old--even the new ones. Sort of like a VHS tape next to a CD.

Here in Thailand, you see more and more electric vehicles on the road. We have an electric hybrid but our next car will definitely be all-electric. Yesterday, we were at Big C Extra (getting a very nice makeover, by the way) and there was a small Geely electric car on display. Price? About 430,000 baht for the base model with a range of around 390something. Nice, roomy, well-fitted interior for an economy car, with a big dashboard screen. If I was in the market for this type of small car, I'd be looking at, and likely buying, something like this and not a Toyota Yaris, Honda City, Nissan Almera, etc. All too dated. And, all of which are likely more expensive to buy and to run.

I'm a car buff and red license autos here tend to catch my eye. Lately, when I see one, more often than not it's a Chinese model--a BYD, a Jaecoo (the model that looks like a Range Rover seems to be super-popular), a Geely, an Aion, an Ora, an MG, a Deepal, a GWM, and others.

Fewer red-license Japanese models, it seems to me. And, I can see why. We love our BYD Sealion 6. We are saving at least 4000 baht a month on gas, while our electric bill hasn't gone up much. Usually our electric bill is around 4500 baht, so the gas savings almost covers the monthly electric bill. Plus, we saved about 700,000 baht by buying the BYD model instead of another Honda CR-V, our previous car. I wonder how many other sales Honda and Toyota have lost to buyers like us.

5 hours ago, lou norman said:

Yeah, but what if you are wrong?

He is wrong. The evidence of that is everywhere.

8 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Great news.

The doomsday cultists will have to find another way to apply crippling taxes to businesses and ordinary people.

They really need a new child deity now that Thunberg's lies and propaganda are no longer shielded by their cries of "but she's just a kid".

Have you noticed by all the thumbs down reactions that every one of your posts get, that you are completely out of touch, and you keep on insisting on staying on a sinking ship with major cracks in the hull, thousands of miles from shore?

Or is there just simply not enough self-awareness to ponder a thought like that?

2 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Have you noticed by all the thumbs down reactions that every one of your posts get, that you are completely out of touch, and you keep on insisting on staying on a sinking ship with major cracks in the hull, thousands of miles from shore?

Or is there just simply not enough self-awareness to ponder a thought like that?

I've certainly noticed that there are a lot of the afflicted on the forum who give a thumbs down to any post that agrees with anything Trump does.

Have you noticed how many F's I give about thumbs down reactions from Pattaya dwelling boomer Libs? 😄

This very post might give you a clue if you're struggling...

Anyway I'm off to the pub. Have a great weekend!

14 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

I've certainly noticed that there are a lot of the afflicted on the forum who give a thumbs down to any post that agrees with anything Trump does.

Have you noticed how many F's I give about thumbs down reactions from Pattaya dwelling boomer Libs? 😄

This very post might give you a clue if you're struggling...

Anyway I'm off to the pub. Have a great weekend!

When you have your cold beer, give a thought to how climate change will significantly impact the price of beer. Enjoy your weekend.

38 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

He is wrong. The evidence of that is everywhere.

From someone who spends their life complaining.

36 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Have you noticed by all the thumbs down reactions that every one of your posts get, that you are completely out of touch, and you keep on insisting on staying on a sinking ship with major cracks in the hull, thousands of miles from shore?

Or is there just simply not enough self-awareness to ponder a thought like that?

I assumed Placeholders email collective is back in action. 12 of my thumbs down arrived in a 15 minute time slot. I usually ask the mods to punish this sort of action.

He's happy with his new award from the coal industry,

champion of coals , golden miner on a plaque ,don't know

if it's him , Trump 🤡 bringing us back to the 60 s ,trying

to say Coal is a clean fuel

regards worgeordie

I agree with Trump, the climate change scam has to end..that's not to say that strives towards cleaner energy should be abandoned,when the technology is ready then the people will embrace it naturally, there is no need for dictatorial mandates and taxes to force behaviour.

1 hour ago, johng said:

I agree with Trump, the climate change scam has to end..that's not to say that strives towards cleaner energy should be abandoned,when the technology is ready then the people will embrace it naturally, there is no need for dictatorial mandates and taxes to force behaviour.

The problem is, the only scam is the fossil fuel industry claiming manmade climate change is a scam.

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

I assumed Placeholders email collective is back in action. 12 of my thumbs down arrived in a 15 minute time slot. I usually ask the mods to punish this sort of action.

Man up, snowflake.

7 minutes ago, stevenl said:

The problem is, the only scam is the fossil fuel industry claiming manmade climate change is a scam.

It is a scam. I'm a scientist. There is no significant warming in Thailand.

10 hours ago, BritManToo said:

More winning from Trump, if only the world had more leaders like Trump!

Net Zero is the ultimate woke con game, destroying our civilization.

Those 16 lefties all flew to Thailand. All wear clothes made with fossil fuels.

People who say climate change isn't real are the same sort of people who said the earth is flat and couldn't possibly be round.

It's easier to deny something is real if you don't want it to be true or to face up to it.

Despite these extreme highs, the long-term average temperature in Thailand has increased slightly over the past four decades, rising from about 27.6°C (1979–2024) to 27.79°C in 2024, according to World Bank data.

9 minutes ago, stevenl said:

The problem is, the only scam is the fossil fuel industry claiming manmade climate change is a scam.

There might be warming and it might be caused by the 8 billion persons on the planet breathing out carbon dioxide or might be caused by natural variations or not.. no one knows for sure ( computer simulations)

,it might be a good idea to kill off the population to a "sustainable" half a million elites so they can avoid eating the bugs...I'm not volunteering for the cull are you ?

6 minutes ago, Bannoi said:

People who say climate change isn't real are the same sort of people who said the earth is flat and couldn't possibly be round.

Rubbish ! climate.. always has and always will 'change'

just like the terminology has to change when it does not fit the 'facts' remember 'global warming' ?