Conservation Notes: Glyphosate & greenhouse gases

By Tom Molloy

The continued relentless attack on the environment continues under the Trump regime.

What can you do?

Get out the vote and support organizations filing legal actions, of which there are many.

Glyphosate (Roundup) production to be ramped up

Trump issued an executive order on February 18th, to spur domestic production of glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup). The New York Times reports that glyphosate has been the target of tens of thousands of lawsuits claiming that it causes Non-hodgkins Lymphoma. His executive order invoked the Defense Production Act, a 1950s-era law typically used in national emergencies to compel companies to produce certain materials or supplies that the president deems necessary for national security. Mr. Trump declared both glyphosate and phosphorus, used to manufacture the weedkiller, “critical to the national defense.”The Defense Production Act provides a pathway for companies to be shielded from certain liability suits, and Mr. Trump’s order appeared to extend that protection to producers of glyphosate.

EPA will no longer regulate greenhouse gases

The New York times reported this month, that the practical result of the Trump regime’s yearlong parade of regulatory rollbacks, was capped this month by its killing of the “endangerment finding,” the scientific determination that required the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gases because of the threat to human health. “The U.S. no longer has emission standards of any meaning,” said Margo T. Oge, who served as the E.P.A.’s top vehicle emissions regulator under three presidents and has since advised both automakers and environmental groups. Last year the regime proposed weakening fuel economy standards to largely irrelevant levels. The Republican-controlled Congress set civil penalties to zero, in effect making them voluntary for automakers. In addition, the Republican-controlled Congress blocked California’s clean air rules last year. The United States will now stand apart from a majority of the world’s industrialized nations, which have mandatory fuel economy and/or greenhouse gas tailpipe emissions rules.

As has been well documented, greenhouse emissions are the main driver of global climate change, which in turn is intensifying heat waves, drought, hurricanes and floods while also melting glaciers, causing sea levels to rise. In December, the regime proposed resetting the Transportation Department standard to require automakers to achieve an average of 34.5 miles per gallon for the full lineup of cars they sell by 2031. The Biden-era target was closer to 50 miles per gallon. The E.P.A. for now continues to regulate pollutants like nitrogen oxides that pose direct threats to human health, but it is now also seeking to weaken those rules.

Aaron Szabo, the E.P.A.’s air quality chief, wrote in December that rolling back those rules would “reduce red tape and bring common sense back to rulemaking.” Daniel Becker, the director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign at the Center for Biological Diversity, reminds us that in addition to the costs to the climate, public health, and industrial competitiveness, vehicles that burn more fuel cost car owners more at the pump. He says “The Trump administration “is telling American manufacturers, ‘You guys go build gasoline cars again,’” he said. “The Chinese government is telling its manufacturers, ‘You go build the advanced vehicles that are going take over the world.’”