There could be a resurgence in coal-fired power plants, like the E.W. Brown Generating Station in Harrodsburg, Ky., after Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin revoked the agency’s 2009 endangerment finding, the basis for the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

On Feb. 12, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it was killing the “endangerment finding,” the foundational legal, scientific and policy determination that enabled landmark climate policies, including stricter vehicle efficiency standards and power plant emissions limits.

First issued in 2009, it required the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases because of the threat they pose to human health. The EPA had concluded that “the current and projected concentrations of the six key well-mixed greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride — in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations.”

Now, the U.S. no longer has emissions standards. 

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No emission standards at all.

If the EPA’s decision holds up, it could increase the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 10% over the next 30 years, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.

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What’s next? Coal-fired cars?

Climate denialism isn’t new, but the blatant disregard for scientific evidence of a warming planet has reached previously unseen depths. 

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Perhaps what is most mind-boggling about this decision is the willingness to permanently cede automotive competitiveness to China, which has gone all in on cleaner and fast-charging electric vehicles, producing........

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