By Ray Rivers
February 15th, 2026
BURLINGTON, ON
US president Donald Trump doesn’t believe in global warming and calls it a hoax. He obviously believes that his intuition is more powerful than all the scientific evidence and meteorologic data generated by thousands of scientists around the globe who make a living studying this stuff. So he has just killed the ‘Endangerment Finding’, the legislative requirement enabling the USEPA to regulate climate changing emissions.
Perhaps it is just a defensive pose. Greenhouse gases are long-lived in the atmosphere and that makes America the nation most responsible for global warming. It has been the greatest historical emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs) on the planet – accounting for approximately 20% to 25% of all cumulative global emissions since 1751. And US carbon emissions are once again increasing after a decade of decline.
World’s Biggest Solar Farm Goes Live in China
China is currently the bad guy when it comes to annual greenhouse emissions but that may be changing. Both China and India have invested heavily in solar and wind power. And, for the first time since the 1970’s both nations have reduced their coal usage. That stands in contrast to Mr. Trump who is actually demanding more coal burning in America. And coal is only one of the two major sources of carbon emissions in America.
The other major source is the internal combustion engine (ICE), or as we know it the motor car. As far back as 1943, smog from industrial and auto pollution was so bad in Los Angeles that people couldn’t see to drive their cars – in fact they kept crashing into each other. And because the US was at war with Japan everyone imagined that this was a poison gas attack by their enemy. But it was really a self inflicted injury caused by their internal enemy – US made tail pipe and industrial emissions.
Research is now showing that smog is also a precursor for dementia and Alzheimer’s outcomes.
President Richard Nixon ushered in the Clean Air Act to clean up America’s smog filled cities. But even before him, another Republican, California governor Ronald Reagan established the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to fight severe Los Angeles smog and enable the state to set strict, trailblazing, emission standards in 1967.
California also led the world on phasing out toxic lead from gasoline as early as 1976. And it led the nation by requiring tight fuel efficiency standards, and ultimately low carbon fuel efficiency standards. And more recently by introducing an Electric Vehicle (EV) mandate, the phase out of new gas guzzlers by 2035, much like what Canada and Europe had introduced. Mr. Trump’s Congress last year not only killed the EV mandate but also weakened federal tailpipe standards, including those for heavy duty trucks.
The result of these actions will be a return to ever increasing air pollution for American cities. The US may not have the dirtiest air in the world but American cities trail the rest of the world when it comes to clean air. We have long known that dirty air is associated with any number of human health outcomes, from asthma to lung cancer, heart disease and, of course, death.
More recently researchers have concluded that smog is also a precursor for dementia and Alzheimer’s outcomes. They found that “PM2.5, a particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less, could increase the risk of dementia by 17%. It was small enough to be inhaled deep into the lungs and came from sources including vehicle emissions, power plants, wood burning and construction dust.”
Mr. Trump is a champion for the application of tariffs, though mostly his appear to be politically motivated or indiscriminate. Back in the 1990’s when America was a leading force on climate and pollution, it had developed a tariff regime which it planned to apply to those nations out of compliance with the Kyoto Protocol. Such a mechanism would have levelled the competitive economic field.
The Kyoto Protocol has 192 parties (191 states and the European Union) that ratified the agreement, making them legally bound to its targets.
That proposal died when GW Bush took America out of that climate change agreement, though others, including Canada for a short time, and Europe, continued to observe the Kyoto agreement. And Europe has developed a tariff regime along the lines once proposed by the Americans.
One can only hope that the EU has the resolve to slap tariffs, as appropriate, on all dirty imports, and especially those from Trump’s America. One can only hope that Canada does the same.
Ray Rivers, a Gazette Contributing Editor, writes regularly applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa. Tweet @rayzrivers
BACKGROUND LINKS:
Endangerment Finding – Killer Smog – California’s Fight on Pollution
Trump Loves Coal – India/China Coal – Dementia and Pollution – Environmental Tariffs –
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MIchael – thanks for your contribution. Indeed we should not underestimate China on anything, despite coal emissions having dropped last year. The theory is that the new coal plants are intended as back up for the renewable facilities, much as Ontario’s gas plants had originally been intended. But China has also greatly expanded its back-up battery infrastructure so questions remain – and as you point out the high energy demands of AI is a possible explanation.
When you try to get data on renewables in China, its from the Chinese government, which I would not believe, they are gaslighting the west and the US administration knows this.
Coal plants cannot be used effectively as back-up for wind and solar, they are base load – the Chinese may claim that they are used as back up, but its propaganda.
Gas plants, single cycle and combine cycle plants are the technology of choice. In this regard, gas (LNG) imports have double to China since 2017 – this data is reliable as it comes from western oil and gas producers. Remember when Trudeau said there was no business case for LNG and Liberals clapped like seals?
The point here, however, is the US administration recognizes this, recognizes the need for plentiful and inexpensive electrical power and is setting policy accordingly. We’ve seen the failed results of renewables and economic damage in Germany, UK and Spain, we don’t need anymore case studies.
China is bankrolling Putin’s war in Ukraine as reported in the UK Telegraph, told to UK Parliamentary Committee by British military intelligence officers to gain advantage over west.
I would encourage Canadians to read this and if interested listen to the committee meeting.
China is financing 65% of Russia’s cost of this war. Any money we send to China supports Russia.
China has constructed a rail line through Iran and to Russia to supply military equipment manufactured in China in support of the war in Ukraine, and China has no intention to end the war in Ukraine as it draws resources from the US and other western allies.
Some of this was echoed by Chrystia Freeland on Bill Maher two weeks ago. She can talk openly about this as she is no longer an MP and clearly does not support the liberal narrative in this regard.
Part of China’s strategy is recognition that the first nation to really unleash AI will be the next global superpower. AI requires a lot of electrical energy, their strategy is two pronged – weaken the west with renewables and build out domestic Chinese generating capacity by whatever means necessary.
China has close to 1200 coal fired generating plants, this is 10 times more than the US and as the US decommissions its plants now in favour of nuclear. (I spent a lot of time in this market on the treatment of Se and other heavy metals from flue gas desulfurization).
In 2025 China commissioned 50 new coal fired plants or 78 gigawatts of generating capacity. By comparison Ontario can generate 38 gigawatts of power.
So every year China builds out the equivalent generating capacity of TWO Ontario’s as coal fired power plants – let that sink in!
Read the Telegraph article, look up Parliamentary Defense Committee meetings in the UK and watch Freeland on Bill Maher, all non-partisan – then let me know why we should be concerned with US policy and now support China.