On July 29, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the EPA proposal to rescind the 2009 Endangerment Finding and end EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. The Endangerment Finding allowed the Obama administration to mandate the EPA to stem vehicle emissions under Section 202(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act. With this scientific underpinning, the EPA issued many regulations and standards for the automaking industry to force cleaner practices and vehicles.
Despite strong initial resistance to the Endangerment Finding by both politicians and industry, there has been general acceptance that CO2 emissions are a threat to the climate and human survival. Rather than being rooted in intense lobbying from the automotive industry, Administrator Zeldin’s actions are painted as a cost-cutting measure. Climate change has become another battlefield in President Trump’s war on supposed government grift and excess. Zeldin’s latest proclamation would end a practice that has seen over $1 trillion in spending on regulations, according to an EPA press release, continuing the administration’s purge on agency spending and waste led by DOGE.
The proposal will undergo a comment period and then likely be finalized in the next year where it will almost certainly encounter lawsuits. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts v. EPA that the EPA must act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This same authority will likely be called upon to determine whether the Endangerment Finding may be repealed.