'Life of everything on earth' is at stake as EPA begins 'massive' deregulation: report

CNN's chief climate correspondent issued a dire warning about the future of the planet now that the Trump administration's Environmental Protection Agency has announced plans to rip away regulations meant to stave off global warning.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin took to social media to announce "31 historic actions to Power the Great American Comeback in the greatest day of deregulation in American history!"

Wolf Blitzer said Thursday that the administration's moves "stand to impact everything from clean water to power plant pollution here in the United States," as he introduced correspondent Bill Weir.

"It's massive," declared Weir. "And just the size and scale of this movement — it's unlike anything in American history."

Weir said the announcement comes as a major energy conference is taking place in Houston, TX.

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"President Trump promised oil executives that if they helped him re-win election, he would take away all regulations, and this seems to be fulfilling that promise," Weir said. "These 31 different actions — rolling back pollution limits on everything from power plant emissions, tailpipe standards, cars and trucks, mandatory greenhouse gas reporting standards, methane leaks from oil production -- that's a huge global warming problem -- limits on mercury and other toxic substances coming out, air quality standards, wastewater pollution rules, the good neighbor rule...environmental justice initiatives for marginalized communities that have to drink and breathe the brunt of the country's pollution -- that has been stripped away."

Weir said it will take years for the declarations to make their way through the courts, and there will be many legal battles at the state level. He claimed that "the whole world is moving toward a new economy" of wind and solar power with "very little natural gas" but "the Trump administration seems hell bent on staying in the 19th century."

Blitzer then asked Weir what concerns him the most about the impact of Trump's actions.

"The life of everything on earth is affected by what is happening as the earth overheats," Weir said. "Last year, insanely hot off the charts."

Weir said that "people who are the most vulnerable are going to feel it first, but eventually everybody, regardless of tax bracket, is going to feel the ravages of an overheated planet right now. But this administration is literally stripping all references to climate change from all federal websites, trying to deny just the acknowledgment of this."

Watch the clip below via CNN or click here.