Michael Barbaro

So the question is, will this lead to industries polluting more?

Right.

And yeah, we don't know.

I mean, it is certainly possible that because companies have already put billions of dollars into clean technology, whether it's for EVs or pollution controls in power plants, that they will continue to do so.

There's also...

public pressure and, you know, companies very much care about how they are seen and whether they are stepping up to a challenge like climate change.

But the reality is, left completely unshackled, as this EPA is about to do, we don't really know how industry will react.

Well, given that uncertainty, what would the elimination of the endangerment finding mean

mean for the environment and for climate change writ large?

Is that suddenly now pretty much in the hands of industry?

It's such a hard question to answer.

I mean, yes, and part of the reason why is that the Trump administration has already pretty effectively restricted some of the things that states can do to address climate change on their own.

Like what?

California is the only state in the country that can set more stringent environmental regulations than the federal government.

It needs a waiver to do that.

California tried to set even stricter automobile emissions rules.

They had a plan to eliminate the sales of combustion engine vehicles in the next decade or so.

But the Trump administration and Congress rescinded that waiver.

I can't see California getting another waiver, at least during the next three years.

Mm-hmm.