The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lee Zeldin, announced plans to repeal the foundational “endangerment finding” that greenhouse gas emissions threaten human health.
This action represents the largest deregulatory move in U.S. history regarding environmental regulation, aiming to roll back regulations controlling carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases.
Driving the news: The endangerment finding, originally issued in 2009 under President Obama’s administration, established that emissions from new motor vehicles contribute to air pollution harmful to public health and welfare.
- This finding has been upheld in multiple legal challenges and served as the legal basis for many subsequent greenhouse gas regulations.
The big picture: Zeldin stated on the Ruthless podcast that the EPA will reject the notion that carbon dioxide is purely a pollutant without acknowledging any potential benefits for the planet.
- Along with rescinding the endangerment finding, the EPA plans to repeal all greenhouse gas emission standards for light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles and engines.
- The EPA is expected to justify these repeals by challenging the scientific evidence underlying the original finding, suggesting there are “developments [that] cast significant doubt on the reliability” of the previous scientific record.
Go deeper: The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2007 Massachusetts v. EPA ruling confirmed that the EPA has authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and required the agency to make a scientific determination on their health impacts.
- This deregulatory effort is set to unwind approximately two decades of federal climate policy intended to curb environmental harm from vehicle emissions and other pollution sources.
