The Trump administration is officially proposing to rescind a landmark 16-year-old administrative ruling that greenhouse gas emissions pose a danger to the public. This move would limit the government’s ability to issue rules aimed at curbing climate change, including those on cars and power plants.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said Tuesday the agency is set to overturn its 2009 conclusion, known as the Endangerment Finding, that greenhouse gas emissions are harmful to the environment and human life.
The 2009 Endangerment Finding determined that six greenhouse gases found in the atmosphere that are generated by human activity, including carbon dioxide and methane, threaten public health and welfare. It was supported by a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that affirmed greenhouse gases are pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
The finding authorized the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from sources such as vehicles and power plants, and has underpinned three administrations’ worth of rules aimed at curbing such emissions.
Zeldin formally announced the proposed rescission during an event in Indiana on Tuesday afternoon, accusing past administrations of making “mental leaps” to put together the finding and later implement it.
He has said that the 2007 Supreme Court ruling did not mandate the agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, saying no agency has the ability to “just creatively come up with our own law.”
“We do not have that power on our own to decide as an agency that we are going to combat global climate change because we give ourselves that power. We will follow the law,” Zeldin said.
He said that the Trump administration is seeking to grow the economy while also protecting the environment.
“I’m a conservative Republican who wants to be a great steward of the environment, and I have found that conservatives and others across ideologies that Republicans and others across political parties have so much that we all can agree on to be great stewards of the environment,” Zeldin said. “We’re not going to ignore how emissions have been down. We’re not going to ignore how American innovation has been on the rise.”
In addition to repealing the finding, the EPA is proposing to walk back limits on tailpipe emissions imposed under the Biden administration. Republicans have likened these restrictions to a mandate on consumers to adopt electric vehicles.
The proposal comes roughly one month after the EPA sent it to the White House for review, which consisted of meetings held by the Office of Management and Budget with environmentalists, industry groups, and the state of Indiana’s environmental protection agency.
If the EPA successfully repealed the ruling, it would threaten all existing federal limits on greenhouse gas pollution and prevent future administrations from imposing similar regulations to mitigate climate change.
It is the latest move from the Trump administration to steer the federal government away from climate change mitigation and toward boosting fossil fuel production.
Since President Donald Trump took office, his administration has removed mentions of climate change from federal websites, halted enforcement of pollution rules at some power generation facilities, eliminated research and development offices, fired researchers studying the effects of climate change, and imposed several policies aimed at making renewable energy development more difficult.
In an effort to support the EPA’s proposed rescission, the Department of Energy is releasing a new report on climate change.
The report, which has yet to be formally published by the agency and will be open for public comment, was authored by five independent scientists selected by Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Several of these authors, including John Christy, Judith Curry, and Ross McKitrick, are widely considered to be climate skeptics or contrarians.
The key findings of the report downplay the effects of climate change on extreme weather as well as the efficacy of mitigation related policies and actions.
Specifically, it says that claims of increased frequency or intensity of hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and droughts are not supported by U.S. historical data, that CO2-induced warming is less damaging economically than commonly thought, that aggressive mitigation policies cause more harm than good, and that U.S. policy actions will have undetectably small direct imparts on the global climate.
During the Tuesday event, Wright said that climate change is a “real physical phenomenon,” but said that past action aimed at curbing it has failed to focus on the “real science” regarding it.
“Whether you’re interested in climate change or not, the politics surrounding climate change have shrunk your life,” Wright said.
Wright later claimed that greenhouse gases are not toxic to humans, disputing the 2009 Endangerment Finding.
Environmental experts and scientists have warned that rolling back emissions standards contradicts scientific findings on the danger of climate change.
“It is callous, dangerous, and a breach of our government’s responsibility to protect the American people from this devastating pollution,” the Environmental Defense Fund said.
The action marks one of Trump’s most aggressive actions to date to change federal policy as it relates to climate change, which he has repeatedly claimed is a “hoax.”
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrator Jeffrey Clark said in a post to X that the move would be the “largest proposed deregulatory action in American history” and could save the national economy up to $8.2 trillion between 2027 and 2055.
“Americans love their traditionally powered cars and trucks. Never forget that the Obama and Biden Admins tried to put us on a path to take them from us,” he said. “The amount of vast consumer surplus generated by the gas-powered car literally fuels the American Dream.”
While both Zeldin and Wright appeared to challenge the science behind the 2009 endangerment finding on Tuesday, the administration is primarily leaning on a technical-legal argument.
The EPA has claimed that it overstepped its legal authority under the Clean Air Act and that the Supreme Court ruling did not require the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases.
Zeldin first said in March that the agency would reconsider the finding, as part of his broader effort to “end the Green New Deal.” At the time, Zeldin said the EPA would be moving to overhaul 31 green and climate-related regulations in order to lower the cost of living.
The agency has broadly insisted that the finding had unduly burdened the public.
In March, Clark claimed the finding failed to consider downstream costs imposed on vehicles and factories.
“Under the enlightened leadership of President Trump and Administrator Zeldin, the time for fresh thought has finally arrived,” he said.
In Zeldin’s confirmation hearing, he declined to say whether he believed the EPA had a responsibility to regulate climate change.
ZELDIN MOVES TO UNDO BIDEN ‘GREEN NEW DEAL’ AND EV RULES WITH SWEEPING DEREGULATION
“It was not a decision of the Supreme Court that if there was a fire in 2025 in California, that if that fire creates a danger to people…then that triggers the EPA to regulate carbon dioxide. There’s just more to that,” Zeldin said in January.
The proposed rollback of the 2009 finding is widely expected to be challenged in court and will be subject to a public comment period.
