Somewhere in the bowels of the EPA, buried under seventeen years of bureaucratic dust, sat a little “finding” from 2009 that quietly strangled American energy like a python with a government pension. Obama’s team looked at carbon dioxide — the stuff you exhale every second of every day — and declared it a threat to public health.

Your lungs are a public health hazard. Every tree on the planet is apparently complicit. Welcome to the logic of federal regulation.

Trump’s about to rip that thing out by the roots. And it’s about time.

Obama’s Trojan Horse

Here’s how the scam worked. The Obama EPA identified six greenhouse gases — including CO2 — as dangerous. That one “finding” became the skeleton key that unlocked every climate regulation Democrats ever dreamed of. Fuel economy mandates. Power plant restrictions. Emissions standards that made energy companies feel like they were running an obstacle course designed by people who’ve never paid their own electric bill.

It was never about saving the planet. It was a regulatory blank check, and every Democrat administration since has been cashing it.

The Bulldozer Shows Up

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin isn’t tiptoeing around this. He’s calling it what it is — red tape. And on Wednesday, Trump is expected to roll out the first wave of the rollback at the White House alongside Zeldin and Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

The opening move? Gutting the requirements for motor vehicles to measure, report, and grovel before federal greenhouse gas standards. No more begging Washington for permission to build a truck that actually works.

And here’s the kicker — they’re also announcing that the Department of Defense will start buying electricity from coal-powered plants. Coal. The fuel source Democrats have been trying to bury since Hillary Clinton stood on a stage and promised to put coal miners out of work, grinning like she’d just said something clever.

She lost West Virginia by 42 points. Weird how that works.

The CO2 Con Job

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum nailed it: “More energy drives human flourishing.” That’s not a talking point. That’s physics. Energy costs are baked into the price of everything — your groceries, your commute, your heating bill, the shirt on your back. When you artificially jack up energy costs with fantasy regulations, you’re taxing existence itself.

And for what? To regulate a gas that every living creature on Earth produces just by breathing?

Here’s a fun fact the climate crowd never brings up at cocktail parties. Earth’s current CO2 levels are near historic lows when you zoom out to geological time. During the Permian period, CO2 was dramatically higher. The planet was covered in lush vegetation. Giant creatures roamed everywhere. Not a single one of them was driving an SUV.

But sure, your Honda Civic is the real problem.

What’s Missing

The one thing this rollback doesn’t touch yet — and should — is nuclear. Nuclear energy is the ace in the deck. Minimal emissions, massive output, rock-solid reliability. It’s everything the green crowd claims to want, except it actually works, which is why they hate it.

Coal is a good start. Modern coal plants are cleaner than anything built even twenty years ago. But if Trump really wants to future-proof American energy dominance, nuclear needs to be part of the conversation. Loudly.

Remember This in November

Every regulation Trump peels off is another link removed from the chain around the American economy. Democrats spent years building that chain, link by link, “finding” by “finding,” telling you it was for your own good while your energy bills climbed and your options shrank.

This Wednesday, another link hits the floor.

The midterms are coming. And when they do, remember which party wanted to make your electricity cheaper — and which one declared the air you breathe a federal crime.