Trump administration officials called their recent walkback of a 2009 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finding over the public health risks of greenhouse gases “the single largest act of deregulation in the history of the USA,” and estimated it would save $1.3 trillion.
Northeastern University experts, however, called that move “concerning for public health” and a handout to the auto and fossil-fuel industries.
“It’s not a public health decision,” said Julia Varshavsky, assistant professor of public health and health sciences at Northeastern. “It’s a fossil-fuel industry decision.”
Sharmila Murthy, professor of law and public policy and the faculty co-director of Northeastern’s Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration, agreed.
“Basically what they’re doing is they are shifting the massive costs of climate change away from the producers of greenhouse gases – such as car manufacturers and power plants and others – and onto you and me, the actual American public,” Murthy said.
