When the head of the Environmental Protection Agency announced a wide-ranging rollback of environmental regulations, he said it would put a “dagger through the heart of climate-change religion” and introduce a “Golden Age” for the American economy. What Lee Zeldin didn’t mention: how ending the rules could have devastating consequences to human health. The EPA-targeted rules could prevent an estimated 30,000 deaths and save $275 billion each year they are in effect, according to an Associated Press examination that included the agency’s own prior assessments as well as a wide range of other research. The AP set out to look at what could happen if all the rules were eliminated, by first examining exhaustive assessments the EPA was required to produce before the rules were approved. … The AP used those and eight different government and private group databases for its estimate of financial costs, some death estimates and analysis of pollution trends. 

Other EPA news:

• E&E News by Politico: EPA seeks more time on PFAS water rule
• Bloomberg Law: EPA asks courts to pause PFAS drinking water rule lawsuit again
• Yale Climate Connections: Blog: The Trump EPA tried to bury some good news