Donald Trump revokes landmark greenhouse gases ruling despite risk to millions of Americans

The EPAy, currently headed by Lee Zeldin, called the reversal the "largest deregulation in American history", saying it would make cars cheaper, bringing down costs for automakers by $2,400 per vehicle.

Environmental groups say the move is by far the “most significant rollback” on climate change attempted yet and are set to challenge it in the courts.

Mr Obama, the former US President, said: “Today, the Trump administration repealed the endangerment finding: the ruling that served as the basis for limits on tailpipe emissions and power plant rules.

“Without it, we’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change - all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.”

The EPA first took a stance on the impacts of greenhouse gases in 2009, in the first year of Mr Obama's first term.

The agency decided six key planet-warming greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, were a danger to human health.

Obama's administration reduced the Federal Government’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than 17 percent, and set standards to nearly double the fuel economy of passenger vehicles.

Speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday, Mr Trump said the ruling was "a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers".

"This radical rule became the legal foundation for the Green New Scam, one of the greatest scams in history," he said.

Administration officials are stressing overturning the regulation will save more than $1trillion and help cut the price of energy and transport.

It would supposedly reduce automobile manufacturers' spending by $2,400 per vehicle, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

Many environmentalists are sceptical of the potential cost savings being proclaimed by the Trump team.

"It's going to force Americans to spend more money, around $1.4trillion in additional fuel costs to power these less efficient and higher polluting vehicles," said Peter Zalzal, from the Environmental Defense Fund.

"We've also analysed the health impacts, and found that the action would result in up to 58,000 additional premature deaths, 37 million more asthma attacks," he added.

While the reversal will help the White House to roll back climate change regulations, there are likely to be unintended consequences, such as unleashing suppressed "nuisance" lawsuits, brought by individuals or organisations on the climate question.

One key argument about the reversal will be about the science on which it is based, with the Department of Energy challenging widely accepted science on the warming impact of greenhouse gases.

A federal judge recently ruled that the department had violated the law in the formation of the hand-picked team that wrote it.

Many legal experts believe they want the proposal to be tested in the Supreme Court before Mr Trump's second term ends, believing if they win, the endangerment finding will be consigned to history.

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