Trump Pollution Rules Are 'Declaration of War,' California Governor Says After Threat of Thousands of Deaths Revealed

California Governor Jerry Brown has slammed the Environmental Protection Agency's latest coal pollution regulations, calling them a "declaration of war" against Americans and all of humanity.

The Democratic lawmaker took to Twitter on Tuesday, reacting to a New York Times report that the EPA's newest pollution standards could cause 1,400 premature deaths per year due to increased emissions from coal power. Brown compared the move to launching a full-scale war, but he wrote that ultimately "truth and common sense will triumph over Trump's insanity."

The Trump administration made public the details of its newest pollution rules governing coal-burning power plants on Tuesday. The legislation, called the Affordable Clean Energy rule, rolls back Obama-era efforts that sought to close more coal-burning plants and find ways to use cleaner energy sources like wind and solar power. The coal plants are one of the leading producers of greenhouse gases and emit high levels of carbon dioxide, which scientists say has contributed to global warming and climate change.

But the most controversial aspect of the legislation came in the fine print, where the EPA acknowledged that the plan would increase carbon emissions enough to cause up to 1,400 premature deaths every year.

An analysis of the Trump plan included a section that detailed how the regulations would harm human health, as opposed to benefiting it. The federal agency predicted that this new plan will cause somewhere between 470 and 1,400 premature deaths per year by 2030. The deaths will likely be caused by an increase in air pollution that can cause heart and lung diseases.

Andrew Wheeler, the acting administrator of the EPA, after the removal of Scott Pruitt earlier this year, said in a statement on Tuesday that the "proposal provides the states and regulated community the certainty they need to continue environmental progress while fulfilling President Trump's goal of energy dominance."

The reaction by many Democratic lawmakers on the proposed regulations mirror that of Brown. Senator Elizabeth Warren called Wheeler just as "dirty as his predecessor. He's a former coal lobbyist who's working to poison the agency—and the environment he's supposed to protect—from the inside." Senator Tom Udall from New Mexico called the policy "shameful."

Former vice president and climate campaigner Al Gore responded to the EPA plan on Twitter, writing that it represents a "failure of leadership and vision" by the Trump administration.