The Glenn Beck Program - August 23, 2025


Ep 264 | Is Cloud Seeding Playing God? Trump EPA Chief Reacts | Lee Zeldin | The Glenn Beck Podcast


Episode Stats

Length

46 minutes

Words per Minute

158.02191

Word Count

7,390

Sentence Count

465

Misogynist Sentences

7

Hate Speech Sentences

3


Summary

Glenn Beck is joined by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to discuss his fight against the Obama administration's environmental regulations and how they are hurting the economy and the middle class. Glenn also talks about how the deep state is trying to take control of the EPA.


Transcript

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00:01:19.380 My guest today is, well, he's in one of the biggest battles in America right now.
00:01:27.780 And a lot of people aren't talking about it or really paying attention to it.
00:01:30.800 But he's already, I mean, he's taking a sledgehammer to the EPA.
00:01:35.600 He is the administrator of the EPA.
00:01:38.140 He's also a combat veteran.
00:01:39.400 So he's probably exactly the guy to take this on.
00:01:42.340 He finished a very close second for the governorship of New York in 2022.
00:01:50.620 It was the best showing by a Republican there in 50 years.
00:01:55.080 The left calls him a radical, of course, but he's cutting waste.
00:01:58.600 He's pulling back the curtain.
00:01:59.740 He is handing the power back to the American people.
00:02:02.800 And when we talk power, we mean power because he is on an energy kick
00:02:08.000 that this country absolutely needs.
00:02:10.400 And he also has a struggle from inside the deep state
00:02:14.180 because his own people have turned against him.
00:02:17.440 But wait until you hear what his goal is
00:02:23.480 within the first year and a half of his term.
00:02:29.200 You are about to hear an amazing man, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.
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00:03:03.140 Lee, or I should call you Administrator.
00:03:19.580 Welcome to the program.
00:03:20.620 How are you, sir?
00:03:21.860 It's great to be with you.
00:03:23.620 Yeah, I think you're killing it.
00:03:26.080 I think you're just killing it.
00:03:27.340 And you are probably, to the left, one of the most hated men.
00:03:33.900 You have to be.
00:03:34.620 Because I look at the EPA not as really environmental protection.
00:03:39.820 I see it as the way the left has built a tool to destroy hopes and dreams
00:03:46.580 and just crush business and everything else in America.
00:03:51.180 I see it more of a tool of destruction than anything that protects the environment.
00:03:57.260 Well, we've made this choice.
00:03:59.500 We believe that you can protect the environment and grow the economy.
00:04:02.780 That sounds like a really wild concept.
00:04:05.360 That's something that conservatives believe strongly.
00:04:08.400 There was this belief at the agency in the last administration that we had to choose between the two.
00:04:14.340 In order to protect the environment, we would have to strangulate the economy.
00:04:18.860 And there were these rules, regulations that were coming in, especially in 2023 and 2024,
00:04:24.000 trying to obliterate the coal industry, to move towards the electric vehicle mandate,
00:04:31.620 to impose costs on Americans that they can't afford.
00:04:36.160 And we also put a lot of weight in the law, following the law, not trying to get creative,
00:04:42.640 where you see vague language in a law that you could just say,
00:04:47.120 well, I guess that means that we're allowed to do it because the law doesn't say we can't.
00:04:51.240 And the Supreme Court, in a decision called Loperbright,
00:04:55.640 which I'm sure you're familiar with, overturning the Chevron Doctrine,
00:04:58.640 made it very clear that agencies like the EPA can't take that liberty
00:05:03.380 of just trying to come up with trillions of dollars of regulations
00:05:07.640 based off of language that doesn't even exist in statute.
00:05:12.440 Yeah, that was a great ruling.
00:05:14.960 Now, if we can just get rid of the Commerce Clause, I think we would be sad.
00:05:21.240 I want to get into all of this and the endangerment finding and everything,
00:05:26.360 but can we start on, I originally reached out to you
00:05:29.640 because I don't know what to think about cloud seeding and chemtrails and geoengineering.
00:05:36.520 And as a casual watcher of this, when they said, oh, in Texas, it was all cloud seeding.
00:05:44.140 I talked to the guy who was actually doing the cloud seeding,
00:05:46.800 and the way he explained it, there's just no way that that's what caused that.
00:05:51.240 And I just, you know, I don't even know if that can be done to cause something like that.
00:05:56.500 Maybe it can.
00:05:57.700 I know China is doing all kinds of cloud seeding and geoengineering.
00:06:02.580 Geoengineering really scares me because it seems like we're starting to play God a bit.
00:06:07.440 And I see the videos of chemtrails, you know, that are coming out,
00:06:12.440 and I think this is part of geoengineering.
00:06:14.520 You know, the farmers over in England are saying, look at the skies,
00:06:18.000 and now it's going to be cloudy in 30 minutes, and it's cloudy.
00:06:21.380 And, you know, they were having all kinds of problems.
00:06:24.540 Can you tell me what's true and what's not?
00:06:26.760 So when I first got confirmed, I sat down here at the agency with people and told them everything that I can know,
00:06:38.360 everything that this agency knows about these topics, I want us to communicate with the public.
00:06:44.040 Everything that I know as the EPA administrator should be communicated transparently with the American public,
00:06:49.700 whatever the answer is, wherever the facts lie.
00:06:52.320 We posted last month on the EPA website, epa.gov slash geoengineering,
00:06:59.800 a lot of the answers I received on this topic.
00:07:03.560 And there has been government funding that's gone towards some of these efforts.
00:07:10.640 There are entities and people who would want to drastically scale these activities up.
00:07:17.040 I agree with you, with your concern, just with the idea of playing God.
00:07:24.320 The solar radiation modification, stratospheric aerosol injection, marine cloud brightening.
00:07:32.140 There are these activities to make changes to the stratosphere or the lower atmosphere
00:07:38.120 and try to deflect sun rays from hitting the earth to instead send it back into space.
00:07:47.460 And, you know, in the case of stratospheric aerosol injection,
00:07:51.900 you're talking about putting sulfur dioxide, a lot of it for a long time, into the upper atmosphere,
00:07:58.020 which, by the way, turns into acid rain.
00:08:01.540 There are real health concerns with regards to these activities.
00:08:06.660 And it's not like, you know, it's thoroughly studied, it's approved, it's trusted, you know, it's vetted.
00:08:15.200 Instead, you have people who just want to do it on their own, like try to get themselves,
00:08:20.460 you know, someone to hand over a billion dollars to just go dump a whole bunch of sulfur dioxide
00:08:24.820 into the stratosphere.
00:08:26.600 And no, that doesn't sound good, it doesn't sound right, and it shouldn't happen.
00:08:33.340 No, no, it doesn't sound, you know, I always, I come back to when I was a kid,
00:08:39.060 they were worried about global cooling.
00:08:41.240 And there were the scientists that said we need to dump coal ash on the polar caps
00:08:49.280 because that will attract the heat and stop the impending ice age that was coming.
00:08:55.400 Can you imagine if we had done that?
00:08:57.200 What a stupid idea.
00:08:59.360 There are just some things that, you know, we're getting so powerful
00:09:02.660 and we're just thinking that we are all powerful and that we have all the answers
00:09:08.240 that when we make mistakes on stuff like this now, the whole world will pay for it.
00:09:14.020 That's not good.
00:09:14.860 Yeah, and yeah, the consequences, as you point out, are grave.
00:09:19.860 And that's why there's been concern by Americans of international activities.
00:09:23.860 Even if the United States doesn't allow geoengineering, weather modification,
00:09:31.020 but we're reading about activities going on in Europe or Asia,
00:09:35.960 that same concern that you just expressed, if we do it over the U.S.,
00:09:40.680 Americans have that concern if it's done over other continents elsewhere.
00:09:44.580 So this is an international conversation in a way
00:09:49.480 because what other countries decide to do impacts Americans.
00:09:53.800 And that, to me, is a logical use of the EPA.
00:09:59.140 You know, something that is, you know, we're doing things that you just don't,
00:10:03.280 you have no idea what you're doing at this point.
00:10:05.620 That's something where the government should come in and work with other governments around
00:10:09.400 and say, hey, let's not do that, at least until we know exactly what we're doing
00:10:14.740 and that we all agree that this is the best idea.
00:10:19.100 The experiments with the globe, especially when it comes to global warming,
00:10:25.080 I mean, are we ever going to put that one to bed?
00:10:28.420 Is that ever going to go away or are we still going to just keep lying
00:10:32.280 that what I learned in school, actually, the trees breathe and then they breathe out oxygen
00:10:38.460 and we, you know, we're CO2, that it's what makes trees grow.
00:10:42.960 We ever going to get back to that truth?
00:10:44.760 I think it's based off of, it really comes down to getting to that moment in the future,
00:10:51.260 like now we're in 2025 where you can go back to predictions from 5, 10, 20 years ago
00:10:58.860 where people were giving their pessimistic assumption of where science is going.
00:11:05.300 Once you get to that date in the future, you're able to look back and say,
00:11:09.080 okay, these are the facts now that we have the data.
00:11:12.000 This is what bared out to be true.
00:11:13.520 This is what wasn't.
00:11:14.480 So six years ago, AOC was saying that in 12 years, the planet was going to end.
00:11:20.420 You know, it seems more and more clear now, six years later,
00:11:23.760 that obviously that's not going to happen.
00:11:27.480 But, you know, in some cases, when trying to institute policies today,
00:11:32.220 they're not just saying this is what's going to happen five or 10 years from now.
00:11:36.080 They'll say this is what's going to happen 80 years from now.
00:11:39.580 And they pick a date that is so far into the future
00:11:42.840 that it will justify the tens of billions, hundreds of billions,
00:11:46.720 or many trillions of dollars of policy, the restriction of consumer choice,
00:11:52.120 the impact on quality of life and cost of living.
00:11:56.280 And, you know, you have to wait 80 years to figure out whether it's true or not.
00:12:00.460 You know, you referenced earlier the 2009 endangerment finding.
00:12:04.960 This was the beginning of the Obama administration.
00:12:07.700 And they were they had a choice.
00:12:11.160 They could rely on pessimistic predictions of what was where things were going with the science.
00:12:17.040 They could have relied on optimistic assumptions that were being made as far as where the science was going.
00:12:22.580 And they chose to rely on the pessimistic predictions.
00:12:26.020 Well, the great news, now we're in 2025, we've seen that many of the pessimistic predictions
00:12:32.760 didn't actually end up panning out.
00:12:34.840 So we could deal with 2025 facts as opposed to 2009 bad assumptions.
00:12:39.900 That's a good thing.
00:12:42.460 Can you explain that endangerment finding and how important that was?
00:12:50.120 I mean, that that created a whole new industry, really, I think, for the EPA.
00:12:55.780 This ended up resulting in trillions of dollars of regulation.
00:13:00.200 What the Obama administration did was that they said carbon dioxide,
00:13:04.720 when mixed with a bunch of other well-mixed gases, the greenhouse gases,
00:13:09.980 some not even emitted from vehicles,
00:13:12.120 even though the endangerment finding was only with regards to vehicles.
00:13:15.360 They say that that ends up contributing to global climate change.
00:13:21.320 They don't say causes.
00:13:22.540 They say contributes.
00:13:24.120 You might ask, how much did they say contributes to it?
00:13:27.180 They don't say, but we know that's somewhere north of zero,
00:13:30.400 not much more north of zero.
00:13:32.300 And then they say global climate change endangers public health and welfare.
00:13:37.440 It's an extraordinarily creative reading of Section 202 of the Clean Air Act,
00:13:42.980 where they were doing things the EPA had never done before,
00:13:46.480 like, for example, justifying this as combating global climate change
00:13:51.100 or relying on certain emissions that aren't even coming out of vehicles
00:13:53.980 and not drawing direct links, instead doing these mental leaps.
00:13:58.000 And what they ended up doing was creating this new power
00:14:01.780 that allowed them to do trillions of dollars of regulation,
00:14:05.420 not just on vehicles, mobile sources,
00:14:08.040 but also stationary sources like power plants and more.
00:14:14.220 So it ended up leading to a lot.
00:14:15.860 But, you know, we were just talking a few minutes ago
00:14:17.860 about the Loper-Bright decision by the Supreme Court.
00:14:21.000 There were also Supreme Court decisions in West Virginia versus EPA,
00:14:24.880 in Michigan versus EPA, in other cases.
00:14:27.360 And there's something called the major policy doctrine.
00:14:30.240 There's this principle that when you're talking about trillions of dollars
00:14:34.400 of federal policy coming out,
00:14:38.380 it should be something decided by Congress.
00:14:40.920 There should be a debate and a vote
00:14:42.660 of the elected representatives of the American people
00:14:45.880 instead of some bureaucrat at some agency
00:14:49.080 deciding to oppose trillions of dollars of regulation on their own.
00:14:53.320 I will tell you that, you know, when,
00:14:56.760 you know, because I don't know what the correct term
00:14:59.480 to address people like you is,
00:15:01.260 and I was told as administrator,
00:15:03.020 and I'm like, ooh, because that goes right directly
00:15:06.560 to Woodrow Wilson's favorite book.
00:15:10.180 He read it three times while he was in office,
00:15:12.400 and it was called Philip Drew Administrator.
00:15:14.620 And it outlined that Congress was just too ineffective,
00:15:18.740 too slow, and they didn't have all the knowledge.
00:15:21.460 All you needed to do was get an expert
00:15:23.560 in each of these fields, like the EPA.
00:15:26.780 It wasn't in existence yet.
00:15:28.560 But you'd get an expert,
00:15:30.120 and you'd make him the administrator.
00:15:32.000 And Congress just wouldn't pass any more laws.
00:15:35.000 They'd become irrelevant.
00:15:36.580 And it would just be, you know,
00:15:38.620 a group of people who just knew,
00:15:40.960 and they would make all of the rules.
00:15:42.780 And that is damn near what we have done.
00:15:46.620 Yeah, and really, it's a principle
00:15:48.560 that doesn't belong in this country.
00:15:51.540 We should have that debate.
00:15:54.720 We should have that vote.
00:15:56.360 And if the will of the people ends up resulting
00:16:00.480 in there not being enough votes to change statute,
00:16:03.320 then so be it.
00:16:04.220 We are going to follow our obligations
00:16:06.020 under the law, period.
00:16:07.840 You know, in that 2009 endangerment finding,
00:16:10.780 there were a whole bunch of different references
00:16:13.020 to interpreting how the law doesn't prevent them
00:16:17.580 from doing something,
00:16:18.600 so therefore they must be allowed to do it.
00:16:21.880 That's not how I'm going to operate.
00:16:23.860 I will just follow the plain reading,
00:16:26.380 the plain text of the law.
00:16:28.140 And if Congress wants to change the law,
00:16:30.600 then we'll follow whatever that change is.
00:16:33.120 That is our job.
00:16:35.560 You know, here at EPA,
00:16:37.500 we do a lot of really good, important things.
00:16:40.500 We inherited a big challenge
00:16:42.680 at the start of the Trump administration.
00:16:44.840 The Los Angeles wildfires
00:16:46.360 ended up destroying over 13,000 properties.
00:16:50.600 There were 1,000 lithium,
00:16:53.620 there were electric vehicles
00:16:54.920 and the battery storage sites.
00:16:56.860 We completed a hazardous material removal effort
00:17:00.120 in less than 30 days
00:17:01.380 that a lot of folks said
00:17:03.020 was going to be impossible to meet,
00:17:04.440 but we did it.
00:17:05.380 We just entered into an agreement
00:17:06.880 with Mexico on behalf
00:17:08.980 of the Trump administration
00:17:10.100 to have a permanent 100% solution
00:17:13.280 to that Tijuana raw sewage crisis
00:17:15.420 where millions of Americans
00:17:17.520 in Southern California
00:17:18.680 are dealing with all this raw sewage
00:17:20.400 coming in from Tijuana, Mexico.
00:17:23.000 There are a lot of brownfield sites
00:17:24.480 and Superfund sites
00:17:25.740 all across the country
00:17:27.220 that are getting revitalized.
00:17:29.920 And that's all good,
00:17:30.920 but here's the problem,
00:17:31.860 is that on the funding side,
00:17:34.760 over the course of the prior four years,
00:17:38.280 they passed tens of billions of dollars
00:17:41.240 through this agency
00:17:42.460 that was so much money,
00:17:44.020 the agency didn't even know how to spend it.
00:17:46.040 And they'll use these words and terms
00:17:48.200 to build support,
00:17:49.280 like environmental justice,
00:17:51.180 and they'll say
00:17:52.480 that there's communities
00:17:53.980 that have been left behind
00:17:55.160 that need help.
00:17:56.160 And we'll say, yeah, okay,
00:17:57.360 there's a community
00:17:57.940 that's been left behind
00:17:58.720 that needs help.
00:17:59.260 What can we do to help?
00:18:00.580 But then under that banner,
00:18:02.700 under that term,
00:18:03.960 they will then get tens of billions
00:18:05.860 of dollars passed through their friends,
00:18:09.200 and then through self-dealing
00:18:10.740 and conflicts of interest,
00:18:12.080 unqualified recipients,
00:18:14.080 deliberately reduced agency oversight,
00:18:17.060 money will end up going
00:18:18.440 through these pass-throughs,
00:18:19.820 through pass-throughs,
00:18:20.700 through pass-throughs.
00:18:22.060 You have people getting rich.
00:18:23.960 The president has spoken about
00:18:25.440 the example of that
00:18:26.960 Stacey Abrams-linked NGO.
00:18:28.480 That's $2 billion of $20 billion
00:18:31.200 that went through an outside bank,
00:18:32.880 where they got $100 in 2023,
00:18:36.400 and then they get $2 billion in 2024.
00:18:40.860 And the last thing I'll say on this
00:18:42.200 is that there's just been
00:18:43.320 so many different grants
00:18:44.920 where the dollar ends up going
00:18:47.080 to an activist group on the left
00:18:50.800 to tell us the next dollar
00:18:53.820 should be going towards
00:18:55.800 remediating an environmental issue.
00:18:57.300 So you get a dollar appropriated
00:18:59.620 to remediate an environmental issue,
00:19:02.020 but instead of spending the dollar
00:19:03.940 on actually fixing the issue,
00:19:05.740 the dollar's going to some
00:19:07.120 left-wing activist group
00:19:08.560 to tell us that the next dollar
00:19:10.120 should go towards fixing it.
00:19:11.640 And we're not here saying,
00:19:13.020 hey, let's take money
00:19:13.780 from left-wing activist groups
00:19:15.060 and give them the right-wing activist groups.
00:19:17.020 We're saying that there should be
00:19:18.480 a zero-tolerance policy
00:19:19.820 for any waste and abuse,
00:19:21.280 and that's why we have now canceled
00:19:23.100 over $29 billion worth of grants,
00:19:26.120 three times the size of EPA's
00:19:28.160 annual operating budget.
00:19:30.180 It is our duty to be an exceptional steward
00:19:32.560 to the taxpayer
00:19:33.380 and cut off all of the BS
00:19:35.780 that has been using these words,
00:19:37.480 these terms,
00:19:38.220 abusing power,
00:19:39.060 and causing extreme economic pain
00:19:41.880 on this country.
00:19:44.920 Children are a gift from God.
00:19:46.580 We know that.
00:19:47.100 And every day, unfortunately,
00:19:48.880 thousands of women across our nation
00:19:50.340 are facing unplanned pregnancies
00:19:52.060 with nowhere to turn
00:19:53.500 because they feel absolutely alone.
00:19:55.180 Everybody in their life
00:19:55.920 is saying, kill it.
00:19:57.060 You know, it's not really a baby.
00:19:58.180 It's not really a child.
00:19:59.000 Right now, nearly one in four pregnancies
00:20:02.040 end in abortion.
00:20:03.140 That's 3,000 lost every single day
00:20:06.160 and 3,000 moms lost every day.
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00:20:18.460 Over 350,000 babies
00:20:20.860 have been sold.
00:20:23.340 No, not sold.
00:20:24.900 350,000 babies have been saved
00:20:27.700 through this life-giving work,
00:20:29.520 and it doesn't stop there.
00:20:31.080 Moms are being introduced to Christ,
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00:20:38.520 Moms like Valeria,
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00:20:41.600 until she searched,
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00:20:47.800 She now has a beautiful daughter
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00:21:23.580 You're richer than you think.
00:21:26.640 Well, that's, you know, I mean,
00:21:28.700 that's why I think you're just
00:21:29.900 knocking it out of the park,
00:21:30.780 but it also makes you an enemy
00:21:32.060 of almost everybody.
00:21:33.560 I mean, you have,
00:21:34.600 how many employees does the EPA have?
00:21:36.480 This should say something.
00:21:38.060 So when we came in,
00:21:39.120 the agency was at 16,155.
00:21:42.420 We've been going through reorganizations,
00:21:44.660 reductions in force.
00:21:45.660 We're going down to 12 and a half.
00:21:47.840 So over the course of the first six months,
00:21:50.620 we were able to reduce the size by 23%,
00:21:53.480 which aside from the over $29 billion of grants
00:21:56.900 that we canceled,
00:21:58.160 that's $750 million of annual savings
00:22:01.600 to the taxpayer.
00:22:03.180 And then we're also doing
00:22:04.020 real estate consolidations.
00:22:06.440 We closed an EPA museum
00:22:08.140 that nobody went to
00:22:09.820 that cost a lot of money.
00:22:11.320 We're canceling media subscriptions
00:22:13.040 that were overpriced.
00:22:14.820 There's just a lot of ways to save money.
00:22:17.120 But you're making enemies.
00:22:20.780 I've heard that there are 400
00:22:22.740 of your own employees
00:22:24.040 that have turned on you
00:22:25.520 and wrote some scathing letter
00:22:27.880 about how you're the Antichrist
00:22:29.520 or whatever
00:22:29.880 and how you're going to kill the environment.
00:22:33.880 What is it like to be you
00:22:35.660 to walk into an agency
00:22:37.280 where you're not the most popular?
00:22:42.660 So here's the great news.
00:22:44.720 I would say that a large majority
00:22:47.780 of the employees,
00:22:49.880 a very large majority
00:22:51.280 of the employees I've interacted with,
00:22:52.980 and I engage with the career employees
00:22:55.120 every day here at headquarters.
00:22:57.260 I've been to 30 states.
00:22:58.960 So I've engaged with EPA
00:23:00.880 across all 10 of our regions.
00:23:04.240 And they get it.
00:23:05.780 You do a career inside of a federal agency,
00:23:08.160 20, 30, 40 years,
00:23:10.020 and you'll have very different presidents
00:23:12.160 from one administration to the next.
00:23:13.860 Sometimes it's a president you voted for.
00:23:16.520 Sometimes it's not.
00:23:18.600 To the point that you just raised,
00:23:20.220 we also have exceptions.
00:23:22.120 And in this case,
00:23:23.540 we had a letter that was drafted
00:23:26.760 where agency employees,
00:23:28.540 using their title,
00:23:30.340 written as agency employees,
00:23:33.260 were providing their own
00:23:36.120 very public opinion
00:23:38.300 of where the agency should go on policy,
00:23:41.300 ignoring the will of the American public.
00:23:43.380 There's a reason why
00:23:44.660 President Trump is now in the Oval Office,
00:23:47.060 that I'm here in this position
00:23:48.940 after being confirmed by the Senate.
00:23:51.140 You can't, as an employee in an agency
00:23:54.120 doing a 20, 30, 40-year career,
00:23:57.140 just always insist that
00:23:59.120 whatever the policy and ideology is
00:24:02.580 of the furthest left president
00:24:05.620 you support over the course of your term,
00:24:08.020 that whatever they want
00:24:09.720 during those four, eight years,
00:24:11.300 whatever they're pursuing,
00:24:12.960 is treated at, you know,
00:24:14.640 etched in stone like it's a commandment.
00:24:17.280 The pendulum will swing
00:24:18.680 because the American public voted for it.
00:24:21.280 The American public doesn't want
00:24:23.460 an electric vehicle mandate.
00:24:25.500 They don't want the coal plants to be shut.
00:24:27.540 They want more,
00:24:28.600 they want energy dominance
00:24:30.740 unleashed here in America.
00:24:32.520 They want to be able to create jobs.
00:24:34.280 They want us to be cognizant
00:24:35.300 of their concerns.
00:24:36.000 You know, I was just yesterday down in Georgia
00:24:39.420 with the vice president
00:24:40.480 announcing a change that we're making
00:24:42.840 regarding refrigerants
00:24:44.700 and this conversion with HFCs
00:24:49.080 that was done very drastic.
00:24:50.860 Well, you go ask,
00:24:51.940 you know, the grocery store costs have gone up.
00:24:54.440 It's harmed the semiconductor industry.
00:24:56.420 Residents are upset.
00:24:57.560 When we take action to stop
00:24:59.840 that really annoying start-stop feature on cars
00:25:02.780 or to make gas cans flow faster
00:25:05.120 or to reverse the annoying,
00:25:08.020 the terribly flawed deratements
00:25:10.320 on diesel exhaust fluid systems
00:25:12.460 or getting water flowing faster,
00:25:15.260 there are Americans out there
00:25:16.400 like none of that matters.
00:25:18.800 Why are you focusing on these little things?
00:25:21.380 Well, maybe it doesn't matter to you,
00:25:23.140 but each of those things I just mentioned
00:25:25.360 matter to millions of Americans
00:25:27.360 and there's no issue that's too small.
00:25:30.000 There's no issue that's too large.
00:25:31.500 We will do, I mean,
00:25:33.220 what we were just talking about,
00:25:34.080 the endangerment finding
00:25:34.940 is the largest deregulatory action,
00:25:37.800 the single greatest deregulatory action
00:25:41.120 in the history of the United States of America.
00:25:44.360 Collectively, all of the deregulation
00:25:46.300 that we will do in one year
00:25:47.580 is more deregulation in one year
00:25:49.900 than entire federal governments
00:25:51.780 across entire agencies,
00:25:53.780 across entire presidencies.
00:25:55.880 And we want to get it right.
00:25:58.460 We're going out to public comment.
00:25:59.800 We're not saying, you know,
00:26:01.600 to the point you just referenced from that book,
00:26:04.360 you know, we're not saying,
00:26:05.600 you know, in this perch that we know best.
00:26:08.280 We want to go to the public,
00:26:10.200 solicit your comments,
00:26:11.440 participate in the process,
00:26:12.740 and we want to get it right at the end.
00:26:15.080 But what we're putting out for proposal right now
00:26:17.760 are many dozens of different decisions
00:26:20.840 that would end up resulting
00:26:23.160 in the largest deregulatory action
00:26:24.960 in the history of the country.
00:26:25.920 And we're proud of it
00:26:27.640 because we're heeding those economic concerns,
00:26:30.080 choosing both.
00:26:30.860 Yes, protecting the environment
00:26:32.580 and growing the economy.
00:26:35.120 So we haven't built a new refinery in America,
00:26:40.060 I think, since the 70s,
00:26:42.020 because of all the regulations.
00:26:44.720 You know, we're shutting down all these coal plants.
00:26:46.760 We, it's impossible to build a new nuclear reactor.
00:26:53.140 Our grid system is, you know,
00:26:55.640 just hanging by a thread.
00:26:58.160 And we're at the same time saying
00:27:00.000 that we want to be the AI leader.
00:27:02.780 China is building all of those things.
00:27:05.300 Every week, there's a new coal fire power plant coming on.
00:27:09.920 And the one who wins is the one
00:27:12.320 who's going to be able to create the energy
00:27:14.400 and create the energy safely, I might add.
00:27:17.880 So we don't hurt the environment.
00:27:20.600 But you're taking what regulations
00:27:23.240 are coming off of coal and drilling
00:27:26.600 and mining and nuclear.
00:27:31.720 How fast can we turn this around?
00:27:34.860 Right away, this year.
00:27:36.180 On March 12th, we announced
00:27:39.560 over 30 different deregulatory actions, proposals.
00:27:45.800 We were sending out press releases
00:27:47.980 once every five minutes.
00:27:49.440 Bill Weir, the chief climate correspondent at CNN,
00:27:52.660 was on Caitlin Collins' show that evening
00:27:54.760 criticizing us for announcing too much
00:27:58.120 too quickly in his opinion.
00:28:00.220 And to make the point,
00:28:01.880 they put up a press release
00:28:03.220 of one of our proposals
00:28:04.920 on a regulation called Quad OBC.
00:28:09.760 And he puts it up and says,
00:28:11.460 look, they were going so quickly
00:28:12.600 that they didn't even proofread
00:28:13.520 their press release.
00:28:14.700 Look at this press release.
00:28:15.720 It says at the top,
00:28:17.140 zero, zero, zero, zero, B slash C.
00:28:20.760 Not even knowing what this major regulation is,
00:28:23.660 the Quad OBC regulation
00:28:25.200 on the oil and gas industry and methane.
00:28:28.480 We need more base load power.
00:28:30.400 We need more coal.
00:28:32.220 We need nuclear.
00:28:32.940 We should be transporting natural gas,
00:28:36.760 whether it's the LNG proposal for Alaska
00:28:40.200 next to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
00:28:43.000 It's the Constitution Pipeline
00:28:44.540 to deliver natural gas from Pennsylvania
00:28:46.580 through New York into New England,
00:28:48.680 the Nessie Pipeline into New York.
00:28:50.820 There's a proposal in the southwest
00:28:52.620 part of the United States
00:28:54.120 to transport natural gas.
00:28:55.940 So that announcement from March 12th
00:28:59.800 included a lot of it.
00:29:01.140 But the media on the left
00:29:02.840 has just been so dishonest about it.
00:29:05.040 Listen, if you want to oppose
00:29:06.160 what we are putting forth,
00:29:08.020 like, that's fine.
00:29:09.060 I mean, we're,
00:29:09.740 let's have that conversation,
00:29:11.220 but just be honest about it.
00:29:12.980 You know, when we put out
00:29:13.820 the endangerment finding proposal,
00:29:16.760 they like to put these photos
00:29:18.800 of these scary-looking smokestacks
00:29:22.160 from coal-powered plants.
00:29:23.620 The proposal was with regards
00:29:25.260 to mobile sources.
00:29:26.820 The scary-looking smokestacks
00:29:28.620 are over 99% coming from water vapor.
00:29:33.000 We're not even,
00:29:33.660 that wasn't even a proposal
00:29:34.760 about anything new to coal plants.
00:29:36.260 Like, it showed pictures of vehicles.
00:29:39.160 But, and by the way,
00:29:39.740 you can't show, you know,
00:29:41.480 the picture of anything
00:29:43.300 coming from the vehicle
00:29:44.520 because what we're talking about
00:29:46.780 with, you know, carbon dioxide,
00:29:49.000 that you can't see it.
00:29:50.600 Like, just be honest
00:29:51.540 with this conversation.
00:29:52.820 So we proposed getting rid
00:29:55.020 of the 2024 mercury
00:29:57.420 and air toxic standards
00:29:58.780 from the Biden EPA.
00:30:00.300 A proposal to try to get rid
00:30:02.300 of the entire coal industry,
00:30:04.480 essentially.
00:30:05.980 So the left-wing media wants to say,
00:30:07.960 look, they want to get rid
00:30:09.100 of mercury and air toxic standards.
00:30:11.160 No.
00:30:12.000 If you get rid of the 2024
00:30:13.620 mercury and air toxic standards,
00:30:15.480 we still have the 2020,
00:30:17.540 the 2012 mercury
00:30:18.780 and air toxic standards.
00:30:20.040 There still will be
00:30:21.020 mercury and air toxic standards
00:30:22.260 on the books.
00:30:23.220 We just don't want to be
00:30:24.820 eliminating the coal industry
00:30:26.540 with these regulations.
00:30:29.300 And just unfortunately,
00:30:30.640 you have people in Congress,
00:30:33.340 in the media,
00:30:34.160 and elsewhere
00:30:34.740 who just don't want to engage
00:30:36.180 in a fact-based discussion
00:30:37.960 on what the right policy is.
00:30:40.300 And if you can't win the debate
00:30:42.040 based on facts,
00:30:43.700 if you have to lie and deceive,
00:30:46.500 well, I mean,
00:30:47.300 I would just say
00:30:47.880 you probably lost the argument
00:30:49.200 before you even started.
00:30:51.580 So you have
00:30:53.560 these people arguing this
00:30:56.620 and trying to put out coal
00:30:58.860 and everything else,
00:31:00.160 which, you know,
00:31:01.580 if we would have followed
00:31:02.540 the plan of Joe Biden
00:31:04.260 by 2030, most likely,
00:31:07.620 we would begin to have
00:31:09.240 such rolling blackouts
00:31:10.860 and brownouts
00:31:12.040 that, you know,
00:31:12.960 you can't build
00:31:13.820 a first world nation
00:31:14.980 if you don't have
00:31:15.820 reliable energy.
00:31:17.200 I'm broadcasting here
00:31:19.020 from my mountain house
00:31:21.460 in Idaho,
00:31:22.460 and there's no power poles
00:31:24.580 coming in here,
00:31:25.240 so I've had to bring
00:31:26.040 all of the electricity
00:31:27.360 in myself with solar,
00:31:29.820 which is ridiculous.
00:31:32.340 It's just ridiculous.
00:31:33.600 I've spent
00:31:34.340 into seven figures
00:31:36.660 to have renewable power,
00:31:38.920 and you just can't do it
00:31:40.560 on a big scale.
00:31:41.580 It's just not possible
00:31:42.560 to do it
00:31:43.140 unless you have generators
00:31:44.340 and natural gas
00:31:45.340 and everything else.
00:31:47.020 And for people to think
00:31:48.860 that we can just get off
00:31:49.960 of coal
00:31:50.520 and get off of,
00:31:51.520 you know,
00:31:52.080 everything
00:31:52.380 and increase
00:31:53.840 the amount we need
00:31:55.060 for AI,
00:31:56.740 it's just not going to happen.
00:31:58.780 Are they anti-human,
00:32:01.780 or do they just,
00:32:03.200 not know what
00:32:04.500 they're talking about?
00:32:06.640 I think,
00:32:07.300 I mean,
00:32:07.540 first off,
00:32:07.940 we have to win this race
00:32:09.140 on AI.
00:32:10.760 There are people
00:32:11.240 who want us
00:32:11.860 to hit the brakes.
00:32:13.060 It'd be harder
00:32:13.640 to catch up later
00:32:14.480 than just winning
00:32:15.220 this race right now.
00:32:16.560 We need more
00:32:17.060 baseload power
00:32:17.860 in order to win it.
00:32:18.940 One of the other proposals
00:32:20.000 was a proposal
00:32:21.940 that we put out
00:32:22.660 to eliminate
00:32:23.160 something that was called
00:32:24.340 Clean Power Plan 2.0.
00:32:25.940 They're very good
00:32:26.480 at coming up with
00:32:27.320 nice names,
00:32:28.900 but they are,
00:32:30.640 the Supreme Court
00:32:31.640 already overturned
00:32:32.460 Clean Power Plan 1.0
00:32:34.500 from President Obama's
00:32:36.520 term in office,
00:32:37.760 and now we're taking action
00:32:39.740 with regards
00:32:40.160 to Clean Power Plan 2.0.
00:32:42.960 We get our power
00:32:44.320 from statute.
00:32:45.840 Now,
00:32:46.300 you know,
00:32:46.720 you're referencing solar.
00:32:48.100 The president
00:32:48.600 often talks wind.
00:32:50.620 These are intermittent
00:32:51.740 sources of energy,
00:32:54.080 and you have governors,
00:32:56.220 I'm from New York,
00:32:57.260 where the governor
00:32:58.680 talks about intermittent.
00:32:59.920 The state is talking
00:33:01.200 about these intermittent
00:33:02.160 sources as if it's
00:33:03.340 a substitute
00:33:04.140 for baseload power.
00:33:05.820 New York doesn't allow
00:33:07.340 the extraction
00:33:07.920 of natural gas.
00:33:09.300 They won't approve
00:33:10.100 new pipelines.
00:33:11.400 They won't allow
00:33:11.940 gas hookups
00:33:12.600 for new construction.
00:33:13.960 They're trying to ban
00:33:14.740 the sale of gas-powered
00:33:15.740 vehicles,
00:33:16.120 and then they've set
00:33:17.220 these climate target
00:33:18.340 dates that they know
00:33:19.880 that they will not hit,
00:33:21.660 but trying to hit it,
00:33:23.320 it will cause
00:33:23.900 extreme pain,
00:33:25.120 including,
00:33:25.800 as you pointed out,
00:33:26.760 those rolling blackouts
00:33:29.380 and brownouts.
00:33:30.840 So it's just bad policy,
00:33:32.240 and then they'll say,
00:33:33.140 they'll talk about
00:33:33.940 the intermittent source
00:33:35.360 as if it is a substitute
00:33:37.440 for baseload power.
00:33:39.380 And the last thing
00:33:39.860 I just want to say
00:33:40.400 real quick,
00:33:41.300 you know,
00:33:41.460 a couple weeks ago,
00:33:42.200 I was with the president.
00:33:43.280 We're in Pittsburgh.
00:33:44.200 It was the AI summit.
00:33:45.740 $92 billion getting announced
00:33:47.740 for the Keystone State
00:33:48.760 in Pennsylvania,
00:33:49.300 and I'm sitting there
00:33:50.760 listening to it,
00:33:51.960 thinking,
00:33:52.600 this entire announcement,
00:33:54.460 $100 billion,
00:33:55.160 $200 billion could be
00:33:57.020 getting announced
00:33:57.940 for a state like New York,
00:33:59.460 but because of the policies
00:34:01.320 coming out of that state capital,
00:34:04.460 the investment is not being made,
00:34:06.580 but fortunately,
00:34:07.940 the investment into the trillions
00:34:09.760 is being made elsewhere
00:34:11.440 around this country.
00:34:14.280 I want to talk to you about pain.
00:34:16.060 So many people are living
00:34:17.440 with everyday pain,
00:34:18.460 and they just think
00:34:19.520 they're stuck with,
00:34:20.640 you know,
00:34:20.800 that's just the way it is,
00:34:21.780 but it doesn't have to be.
00:34:23.080 Let me tell you about Stanley
00:34:24.160 and his Relief Factor story.
00:34:26.060 Stanley had seen TV ads
00:34:27.420 for Relief Factor
00:34:28.240 more times than he could count,
00:34:29.620 but for some reason,
00:34:30.560 you know,
00:34:30.840 he was just like,
00:34:31.360 I'm not going to try it.
00:34:32.480 But his leg and back pain
00:34:33.720 won out,
00:34:34.320 so he gave in.
00:34:35.040 He ordered it.
00:34:36.100 After one week
00:34:37.060 of taking Relief Factor,
00:34:38.200 his pain eased up dramatically,
00:34:40.180 even started sleeping better.
00:34:42.040 Now, Stanley says,
00:34:43.140 the stuff is incredible,
00:34:44.680 and of course,
00:34:45.100 he wishes he would have
00:34:45.820 started it sooner.
00:34:47.040 If you're living
00:34:47.500 with aches and pains,
00:34:48.440 see how Relief Factor,
00:34:49.540 a drug-free,
00:34:50.760 daily supplement,
00:34:51.580 can help you live
00:34:52.700 and feel better,
00:34:53.600 just like Stanley,
00:34:54.360 just like me,
00:34:54.900 every day.
00:34:55.720 Give their three-week
00:34:56.440 quick start a try.
00:34:57.280 It's only $19.95.
00:34:58.700 In a few weeks,
00:34:59.460 even a few days,
00:35:00.120 you'll feel the difference
00:35:01.100 that Relief Factor can make.
00:35:02.900 Don't feel stuck
00:35:03.660 living with pain.
00:35:04.480 Visit relieffactor.com
00:35:05.700 or call 800-4-RELIEF.
00:35:07.080 That's 800-4-RELIEF.
00:35:09.680 Claudia was leaving
00:35:11.580 for her pickleball tournament.
00:35:12.860 I've been visualizing
00:35:13.720 my match all week.
00:35:15.400 She was so focused
00:35:16.320 on visualizing
00:35:17.100 that she didn't see
00:35:18.000 the column behind her car
00:35:19.140 on her backhand side.
00:35:21.420 Good thing Claudia's
00:35:22.540 with Intact,
00:35:23.340 the insurer with the largest
00:35:24.620 network of auto service centers
00:35:26.020 in the country.
00:35:27.120 Everything was taken care of
00:35:28.300 under one roof,
00:35:29.120 and she was on her way
00:35:29.960 in a rental car in no time.
00:35:31.540 I made it to my tournament
00:35:32.940 and lost in the first round.
00:35:34.760 But you got there on time.
00:35:36.940 Intact Insurance,
00:35:38.020 your auto service ace.
00:35:39.160 Certain conditions apply.
00:35:41.780 So how,
00:35:43.020 when we,
00:35:44.880 I've got so many questions
00:35:47.100 on this.
00:35:47.580 Let me start with this.
00:35:48.620 It really bothers me
00:35:49.940 that we've never been able
00:35:52.520 to even talk about
00:35:53.300 nuclear energy.
00:35:54.040 I've been a fan
00:35:54.600 of nuclear energy forever.
00:35:56.340 It's the cleanest,
00:35:57.420 it's the safest form
00:35:58.520 of energy man has ever,
00:35:59.860 ever done.
00:36:00.720 It's 100% reliable.
00:36:02.640 It is baseload power.
00:36:04.660 It works in France.
00:36:06.780 So why we can't do it here.
00:36:10.060 And,
00:36:10.400 you know,
00:36:11.140 the coal plants,
00:36:12.560 the nuclear power plants,
00:36:14.200 any kind of plant
00:36:15.460 to create energy
00:36:16.340 for people
00:36:17.320 was just a no-go zone.
00:36:20.060 But all of a sudden,
00:36:21.400 Silicon Valley says,
00:36:22.640 do you know how much energy
00:36:23.600 we need
00:36:24.300 for the,
00:36:25.940 for the AI plants?
00:36:27.740 And all of a sudden,
00:36:29.260 oh,
00:36:29.760 you don't hear anything
00:36:30.680 from the left.
00:36:31.520 Oh,
00:36:31.720 they're,
00:36:31.920 they're fine.
00:36:32.420 We,
00:36:32.660 well,
00:36:32.800 we got to do this.
00:36:33.800 All the people
00:36:34.640 that have been preaching
00:36:35.380 this to us now,
00:36:36.600 now that Silicon Valley
00:36:37.920 needs that power,
00:36:39.380 now it's okay.
00:36:40.300 We have to do it.
00:36:41.300 And I know it comes
00:36:42.380 from the left
00:36:42.960 and the right on this,
00:36:43.860 but at least the right
00:36:44.700 is consistent.
00:36:45.560 We've never had a problem
00:36:46.440 with these things.
00:36:49.200 How,
00:36:49.780 how do we,
00:36:51.300 when do we break ground
00:36:52.760 on some of these power plants
00:36:54.520 like nuclear energy?
00:36:55.860 And when can we turn them on,
00:36:57.820 do you think?
00:37:00.040 Yeah,
00:37:00.560 I mean,
00:37:00.720 there have been so many
00:37:02.000 announcements
00:37:02.920 that have been made
00:37:03.880 since President Trump
00:37:04.960 was sworn in,
00:37:05.700 in January,
00:37:06.440 of these massive,
00:37:08.300 not just multi-billion
00:37:10.540 or tens of billions,
00:37:11.500 in some case,
00:37:12.280 hundreds of billions
00:37:13.260 of dollars
00:37:13.780 that companies
00:37:14.660 are investing.
00:37:16.520 They want to,
00:37:17.320 many of them want to
00:37:18.480 have data centers
00:37:20.180 powering their own site.
00:37:21.940 Some are talking
00:37:22.800 small with nuclear.
00:37:24.840 You have
00:37:25.500 states
00:37:26.200 and others
00:37:27.320 talking about
00:37:27.980 going big
00:37:28.680 with nuclear.
00:37:30.020 Here's the message
00:37:31.160 from the Trump EPA.
00:37:33.020 We,
00:37:33.500 we want to get
00:37:34.360 this stuff approved
00:37:35.360 and we want to get
00:37:35.900 approved as quickly
00:37:36.640 as possible.
00:37:37.140 We have the power
00:37:38.080 to gum up the works.
00:37:39.820 We also have the power
00:37:40.760 to get things
00:37:41.760 fast-tracked.
00:37:43.280 We,
00:37:43.540 we can help
00:37:44.120 with permitting.
00:37:45.240 We can help
00:37:45.800 with cooperative federalism.
00:37:47.020 We want to work
00:37:47.640 with states
00:37:48.040 and local governments.
00:37:49.480 We can assist
00:37:50.000 with siting,
00:37:51.180 including on,
00:37:51.880 on top of
00:37:53.420 Superfund sites
00:37:54.340 and brownfield sites.
00:37:55.820 There's so many ways
00:37:56.960 that the EPA can help.
00:37:58.760 You've had these
00:37:59.440 announcements
00:37:59.900 that have been made
00:38:00.900 into the trillions
00:38:02.140 of dollars
00:38:02.860 of all these companies
00:38:04.180 that want to make
00:38:05.140 the investment.
00:38:06.440 We are here to help.
00:38:08.000 President Trump
00:38:08.800 during the,
00:38:10.300 during his transition
00:38:11.520 was at the New York
00:38:12.160 Stock Exchange
00:38:12.820 ringing the opening bell
00:38:14.020 and he said,
00:38:15.820 when,
00:38:16.700 when Lisa,
00:38:17.300 this is before I was confirmed,
00:38:18.440 this is before he was
00:38:19.160 sworn back in,
00:38:20.300 he said,
00:38:20.620 when Lee Zeldin's
00:38:21.340 the administrator of EPA,
00:38:22.440 he will approve
00:38:23.100 all requests
00:38:23.860 for new nuclear sites
00:38:25.860 within one week.
00:38:27.700 And,
00:38:27.820 so we start getting
00:38:29.060 these,
00:38:29.380 we start getting
00:38:30.360 these media requests
00:38:31.540 in right away.
00:38:32.340 I was with the president
00:38:33.060 for the whole day.
00:38:34.300 The first request
00:38:35.080 comes in,
00:38:35.620 very serious questions,
00:38:37.000 wanting to know
00:38:37.420 how we're going to approve
00:38:38.360 new nuclear sites
00:38:39.760 in one week.
00:38:41.320 And the president,
00:38:42.700 you know,
00:38:42.940 he was like volunteering
00:38:44.380 there as,
00:38:45.300 you know,
00:38:45.520 as communications director
00:38:46.540 for a minute.
00:38:47.640 He says,
00:38:48.240 you know,
00:38:48.600 remind them that I was,
00:38:50.000 I was kidding around
00:38:50.880 when I said one week
00:38:52.040 and tell them
00:38:53.120 you'll get it done
00:38:53.980 and tell them
00:38:54.720 you'll get it done
00:38:55.160 in two weeks.
00:38:56.920 The point is,
00:38:58.240 we are going to move
00:39:00.200 as fast as humanly possible.
00:39:02.400 And then the other piece
00:39:03.340 that's helping
00:39:03.900 to get this stuff done
00:39:05.020 as quickly as we can
00:39:06.600 is that President Trump
00:39:07.980 created a National Energy
00:39:09.300 Dominance Council
00:39:10.240 chaired by Doug Burgum,
00:39:12.240 Secretary of Interior,
00:39:13.440 Vice Chair is Chris Wright,
00:39:15.380 the Secretary of Energy.
00:39:17.260 You have Howard Lutnick,
00:39:19.120 Secretary of Commerce,
00:39:20.000 multiple agencies
00:39:21.120 working together.
00:39:22.700 And instead of each of us
00:39:23.780 being siloed off,
00:39:26.480 we're all working together,
00:39:27.840 agencies working together
00:39:28.980 at once
00:39:29.560 to make the process
00:39:30.840 as efficient as we can
00:39:32.280 so that someone
00:39:33.400 who wants to invest
00:39:34.520 and they're seeking a permit,
00:39:36.140 they don't get 15 months
00:39:37.480 down the road
00:39:38.280 and then they're getting
00:39:39.480 denied for something.
00:39:40.720 They're like,
00:39:40.980 hey,
00:39:41.080 why don't you give us
00:39:41.680 a heads up 15 months ago
00:39:43.360 that we were going this way?
00:39:44.500 But we need to go
00:39:45.240 one step further.
00:39:46.660 As far as permitting reform
00:39:48.220 goes in this country,
00:39:49.220 the one big beautiful bill
00:39:50.760 was passed and signed into law.
00:39:52.740 Congress might be thinking
00:39:53.680 about what's next.
00:39:55.220 I'll give you three principles
00:39:56.480 that would be great
00:39:57.600 to guide a permitting reform bill.
00:39:59.880 Permits should take less time,
00:40:01.780 cost less money,
00:40:02.600 and have more certainty.
00:40:03.880 And if you're checking
00:40:04.780 those three boxes,
00:40:05.920 that will only further ramp up
00:40:08.440 the amount of investment,
00:40:09.620 the pace,
00:40:10.520 and the amount of new projects
00:40:12.000 that will get built
00:40:12.580 across this country.
00:40:13.300 But no matter what,
00:40:14.080 we're here to help
00:40:14.600 to get done as fast
00:40:15.420 as we can at EPA.
00:40:17.020 So do you have an idea
00:40:19.060 of when the shovel
00:40:20.380 will go in
00:40:21.080 for a new power plant?
00:40:24.400 Yeah,
00:40:24.960 for sure.
00:40:26.200 I mean,
00:40:26.420 it's going on all across
00:40:27.920 the country
00:40:28.680 with different projects
00:40:29.780 at different timelines
00:40:31.480 over the course of months
00:40:34.740 and years ahead.
00:40:36.880 There's going to be
00:40:37.440 a whole lot of groundbreaking
00:40:38.640 and ribbon cutting
00:40:40.360 with power plants
00:40:41.700 coming online
00:40:42.420 with small projects
00:40:44.400 that will be done
00:40:46.620 to power a particular site,
00:40:49.200 a particular company.
00:40:50.400 They might have extra power
00:40:52.000 that they're able to put
00:40:53.040 into a grid.
00:40:55.100 But you have companies
00:40:56.400 all across the entire country
00:40:58.100 breaking ground.
00:40:59.920 In some cases,
00:41:00.800 we're talking about months.
00:41:02.260 In other cases,
00:41:02.860 we're talking about years.
00:41:04.480 But this isn't something
00:41:05.660 that is a conversation
00:41:07.180 for post-Trump presidency.
00:41:10.460 This is something
00:41:11.420 that we're going to be able
00:41:12.740 to celebrate progress on
00:41:14.580 throughout the Trump presidency.
00:41:17.140 Lee,
00:41:17.900 you have set
00:41:20.140 four new priorities
00:41:21.380 for the EPA.
00:41:22.960 And they are
00:41:23.940 energy dominance.
00:41:25.440 I think we covered that.
00:41:27.140 Permitting.
00:41:28.000 Streamlining all permitting.
00:41:30.180 We've just covered that.
00:41:31.580 AI energy.
00:41:33.020 We did that.
00:41:33.660 The last one is
00:41:35.400 auto jobs restoration.
00:41:37.920 What does it mean
00:41:38.980 to restore auto jobs
00:41:40.620 and how is that
00:41:41.520 the purview of the EPA?
00:41:45.360 I'm so happy that you asked.
00:41:47.480 So when we were confirmed
00:41:49.620 shortly thereafter,
00:41:51.500 we sent three Biden EPA waivers
00:41:55.060 to Congress for review
00:41:56.700 that were given
00:41:58.200 to the state of California
00:41:59.820 that California used
00:42:01.960 for the state-level
00:42:04.060 electric vehicle mandate
00:42:05.380 and other tailpipe emissions
00:42:07.440 that a whole bunch
00:42:09.160 of other states
00:42:10.280 had then signed on to.
00:42:12.440 So California's
00:42:13.540 state-level
00:42:14.360 tailpipe emissions
00:42:16.120 weren't just California.
00:42:18.500 A whole bunch
00:42:19.180 of other states
00:42:19.740 signed on.
00:42:20.440 So now you have
00:42:21.020 two different standards
00:42:22.200 throughout the country.
00:42:23.600 Congress reviewed it
00:42:24.480 and they passed
00:42:25.380 the Congressional Review Act
00:42:26.680 on all three of the waivers
00:42:27.800 to get rid of the waivers
00:42:29.580 which President Trump signed.
00:42:31.860 So those waivers are gone,
00:42:33.540 which means that
00:42:34.160 California's proposal
00:42:36.060 policy for that
00:42:38.000 electric vehicle mandate
00:42:39.040 and the other tailpipe
00:42:39.860 emissions are gone.
00:42:41.480 You and I were talking
00:42:42.740 about the endangerment
00:42:44.220 finding a little earlier.
00:42:45.980 The proposal wasn't just
00:42:47.680 about a reconsideration
00:42:49.020 of the 2009
00:42:49.800 endangerment finding.
00:42:50.800 The proposal also includes
00:42:53.000 a rescission
00:42:54.400 of all of the
00:42:55.640 greenhouse gas regulations
00:42:57.600 that followed
00:42:58.600 regarding light,
00:42:59.980 medium,
00:43:00.400 and heavy-duty vehicles.
00:43:02.340 Earlier on,
00:43:03.140 we were talking about
00:43:04.020 reversing
00:43:04.880 the diesel exhaust
00:43:07.160 fluid system
00:43:08.320 deratement.
00:43:09.620 So we made that
00:43:10.740 announcement in Iowa
00:43:11.820 about a week,
00:43:13.060 a week and a half ago.
00:43:15.140 Earlier on,
00:43:16.140 I was talking about
00:43:16.780 changing
00:43:17.240 what is the
00:43:18.360 off-cycle credit
00:43:19.460 that car manufacturers
00:43:21.080 were using
00:43:22.200 to put that annoying
00:43:23.440 start-stop feature
00:43:24.520 in cars.
00:43:25.660 Well,
00:43:25.820 the endangerment
00:43:26.560 finding reconsideration
00:43:28.260 includes
00:43:29.020 getting rid of
00:43:30.680 that start-stop feature
00:43:32.800 in those vehicles.
00:43:33.820 So there's a lot
00:43:34.680 that EPA does
00:43:35.820 in the space
00:43:36.920 of auto manufacturing
00:43:39.280 with jobs,
00:43:40.740 lower-cost vehicles,
00:43:42.860 diesel engines
00:43:44.020 for heavy-duty vehicles,
00:43:46.320 trucks, pickups,
00:43:48.220 tractors
00:43:48.940 for our farmers.
00:43:50.480 We want to get
00:43:51.260 all of these equipment,
00:43:52.620 all this equipment,
00:43:53.560 all these vehicles
00:43:54.300 operating better,
00:43:55.180 more efficiently,
00:43:55.840 more cost-effective.
00:43:57.700 Last question.
00:43:59.160 You know,
00:43:59.440 it took FDR
00:44:00.320 four terms
00:44:01.400 to really
00:44:03.940 completely
00:44:04.620 change the nation.
00:44:06.040 I asked Donald Trump
00:44:06.940 before the election,
00:44:08.740 I said,
00:44:09.060 can we get enough
00:44:10.160 done in four years?
00:44:11.240 He said,
00:44:11.740 no.
00:44:12.760 He said,
00:44:13.500 but I think
00:44:14.420 you'll see
00:44:15.640 how fast
00:44:16.340 we're going to move.
00:44:17.080 He said,
00:44:17.880 but I think
00:44:18.300 we actually need
00:44:19.040 12 years
00:44:19.980 to actually
00:44:20.920 turn this
00:44:21.940 ship
00:44:23.520 and go in
00:44:24.840 another direction.
00:44:25.940 You think
00:44:26.500 that's a fair
00:44:27.340 timetable
00:44:28.440 that we would need
00:44:29.300 two more
00:44:30.680 administrations
00:44:31.640 plus this one?
00:44:34.040 Well,
00:44:34.620 listen,
00:44:34.960 I would defer
00:44:35.920 to how much time
00:44:37.780 other agencies
00:44:39.160 would need,
00:44:40.660 how much time
00:44:41.240 Congress needs,
00:44:42.860 how much time
00:44:44.160 future presidents
00:44:45.740 would need
00:44:46.520 to get certain
00:44:47.160 things done.
00:44:47.880 I will tell you,
00:44:49.440 speaking for the EPA,
00:44:51.840 is that we are
00:44:52.840 going to get
00:44:53.640 everything done
00:44:55.600 here over the course
00:44:56.900 of the first year
00:44:57.780 to year and a half.
00:44:59.800 That's been the biggest
00:45:00.680 surprise and shock
00:45:02.460 that I had
00:45:03.500 coming into the position
00:45:04.460 is how much
00:45:06.160 we're able
00:45:06.600 to do it once.
00:45:08.040 We have a lot
00:45:08.860 of bandwidth.
00:45:09.520 We have a great team.
00:45:10.860 And I thought
00:45:11.640 that my team
00:45:12.640 was going to tell me,
00:45:14.000 all right,
00:45:14.180 we're going to do
00:45:14.740 these few things first
00:45:16.260 and then a few months
00:45:17.440 later we're going to
00:45:18.060 start these next few
00:45:18.960 things and by the end
00:45:20.300 of four years
00:45:21.160 we'll get through
00:45:22.160 70% of the agenda
00:45:23.780 and hopefully
00:45:25.080 things work out
00:45:26.120 November 28
00:45:27.000 and we can finish
00:45:27.980 with the next
00:45:28.940 administration.
00:45:30.200 At the EPA,
00:45:32.180 despite all,
00:45:33.980 everything that we
00:45:34.540 inherited and
00:45:35.140 everything that needed
00:45:35.840 to get fixed,
00:45:37.240 I don't have anything
00:45:38.680 on my calendar
00:45:39.960 that we are waiting
00:45:41.440 for year three
00:45:42.380 or year four
00:45:43.240 to get done.
00:45:44.380 Everything is
00:45:45.700 year one,
00:45:46.980 except for a few
00:45:48.400 things that spill
00:45:49.400 into year two
00:45:50.560 for a very good
00:45:51.700 reason that I already
00:45:52.660 pressure tested
00:45:53.700 timelines on.
00:45:55.000 My goal is to
00:45:56.120 fix everything
00:45:57.460 out of the gate.
00:46:00.320 Quite ambitious.
00:46:01.520 I will tell you,
00:46:02.440 I was so disappointed
00:46:03.460 when you didn't win
00:46:04.460 in New York.
00:46:05.580 You weren't the
00:46:05.980 governor of New York.
00:46:06.700 That would have
00:46:06.940 solved a lot of
00:46:07.420 problems.
00:46:08.040 But God works
00:46:08.720 in mysterious ways
00:46:09.560 and I am thrilled
00:46:10.460 that you are at
00:46:11.420 the EPA.
00:46:12.100 You're killing it.
00:46:13.020 Thank you so much.
00:46:13.620 Thanks, Glenn.
00:46:19.860 Just a reminder,
00:46:21.240 I'd love you to
00:46:22.340 rate and subscribe
00:46:23.220 to the podcast
00:46:24.140 and pass this on
00:46:24.980 to a friend
00:46:25.440 so it can be
00:46:26.080 discovered by
00:46:26.600 other people.
00:46:39.560 Thank you.
00:46:41.420 Thank you.
00:46:41.800 Thank you.
00:46:42.980 Well,
00:46:43.880 thank you.