Fifty-six years ago, President Richard Nixon sent a letter to Congress proposing the formation of a new federal regulator: the Environmental Protection Agency. Back then, big city skylines were shrouded in smog, chemicals and waste had spoiled the nation’s waterways, and Americans across the political spectrum recognized the need to safeguard the planet.

The government’s efforts worked. While disagreements over the details and near-constant pushback from industry over regulations persisted over the decades, the EPA was long considered a genuine bipartisan American success story — at least until President Donald Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin arrived.

So far, the pair have taken a flamethrower to environmental policy.

The two most egregious moves are the rollback of mercury emission limits at coal plants and the repeal of the legal basis for regulating greenhouse gases. Americans — and the world at large — will be paying for the administration’s shortsightedness for years to come.

A contaminant that is present in coal and released when it is burned, mercury can have devastating effects on human health. Just ask Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who blamed mercury exposure for contributing to his memory loss and brain fog while running for president. He’s campaigned to remove mercury from fish and vaccines, while his colleagues in the administration plan to release more mercury into the atmosphere.

The emissions rollback also affects restrictions on arsenic, nickel, and lead — all of which are released when coal is burned. A Harvard analysis suggested that repealing the mercury restriction could lead to $200 million in additional annual health costs for Americans, including heart and lung issues.

It’s bad enough that Trump wants to promote continued coal use; his administration is also standing in the way of renewable energy sources, putting up regulatory roadblocks for the development of wind and solar power. While America needs more energy generation to tamp down rising electricity costs, a diversified approach makes a lot more sense than using a 19th-century answer to a 21st-century problem.

By turning its back on the EPA’s “endangerment finding,” the Trump administration has eliminated the government’s power to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The 2009 finding, which recognized that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases produced by fossil fuels endanger public health, has been the cornerstone of U.S. climate policy.

Beyond the damage to the environment and long-term impact on an already dangerously warming planet, lifting restrictions will also result in higher costs for American motorists and bigger profits for oil barons at home and abroad.

In Pennsylvania alone, the toll would be significant. According to an analysis by the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, repealing the endangerment finding would result in $57 billion worth of additional fuel costs and over $12 billion in additional health costs by 2055 for Keystone State residents. Other costs include tens of thousands of additional premature births, millions of asthma attacks, and billions of metric tons worth of pollution.

The EDF, alongside a coalition of environmental groups, is currently suing the EPA to preserve emissions standards. The Trump administration’s backsliding puts America out of step with most of the world, where governments are embracing clean energy and electrification not only for health benefits but economic ones, as well.

In France, clean energy production has been so successful that supply temporarily eclipsed demand briefly last year. While American ratepayers are dealing with rising electricity costs, France is seeing prices drop to their lowest level in years.

China has established itself as a hub for electric vehicles. While the Trump administration has gutted incentives meant to help the American auto industry compete, Chinese firms have recorded a 1,016% increase in electric vehicle exports, with the total value rising from $295 million in 2018 to $36.7 billion in 2023. Thanks to the president, American automakers are likely to miss out on this bonanza.

Instead, America’s energy policy seems aimed at recreating the economy of the 1960s, the very same conditions that led to the environmental movement in the first place. Trump has talked about “clean, beautiful coal,” said wind power is for “stupid people,” and defunded tax programs that help homeowners reduce their energy usage through heat pumps and weatherization.

Americans deserve better than higher bills and dirtier air. Unfortunately, under Trump’s policies, that’s all we’ll get.

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