The EPA announced a change in how cost-benefit analyses are calculated for Clean Air Act regulations yesterday, in the midst of a pandemic made worse by polluted air.

The rule change would mean the cost savings from the environmental and health benefits of new regulations, also known as co-benefits, couldn’t be factored into decisions. Co-benefits were often used by the Obama administration to justify new pollution restrictions, and critics say the move would make it harder to pass future limits on air pollution. As former EPA official Richard Morgenstern told The New York Times, this rule “is altering the math in such a way to potentially downplay the economic benefit to public health, so they are justified in writing weaker rules in the future.”

Also yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order that would allow agencies to ignore environmental laws such as the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act when approving new infrastructure projects because of the “economic emergency” created by the pandemic. However, critics say the move is legally shaky and will likely be challenged in court. Lawyer Thomas Jensen compared the executive order to the clearing of protestors from Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. earlier this week, telling the Washington Post, “It’s just one more face of authoritarian ideology, with a clear link to issues of race and equality and government accountability.”