The administration of President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the repeal of a scientific finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, removing the legal basis for federal climate regulations. It also ended subsequent federal greenhouse gas emission standards for all vehicles and engines of model years 2012 to 2027.
The move represents the most sweeping climate change policy rollback by the administration to date, after a string of regulatory cuts and other moves intended to unfetter fossil fuel development and stymie the rollout of clean energy. “Under the process just completed by the EPA, we are officially terminating the so-called endangerment finding, a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and drove up prices for American consumers,” Trump said, announcing the repeal beside EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and White House Budget director Russ Vought, who has long sought to revoke the finding.
Trump has said he believes climate change is a hoax, and has withdrawn the United States from the Paris Agreement, leaving the world’s largest historic contributor to global warming out of international efforts to combat it in addition to killing Biden-era tax credits aimed at accelerating deployment of electric cars and renewable energy. The so-called endangerment finding was first adopted by the United States in 2009, and led the EPA to take action under the Clean Air Act of 1963 to curb emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and four other heat-trapping air pollutants from vehicles, power plants and other industries.
Its repeal would remove the regulatory requirements to measure, report, certify, and comply with federal greenhouse gas emission standards for cars, but may not initially apply to stationary sources such as power plants. The transportation and power sectors are each responsible for around a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas output, according to EPA figures.
The EPA said the repeal will save U.S. taxpayers 1.3 trillion, eliminating both the endangerment finding and all federal GHG emission standards for vehicles. While many industry groups back the repeal of stringent vehicle emission standards, they have been reluctant to show public support for rescinding the endangerment finding because of the legal and regulatory uncertainty it could unleash. Legal experts said the policy reversal could, for example, lead to a surge in lawsuits known as “public nuisance” actions, a pathway that had been blocked following a 2011 Supreme Court ruling that GHG regulation should be left in the hands of the Environmental Protection Agency instead of the courts.
“This may be another classic case where overreach by the Trump administration comes back to bite it,” said Robert Percival, a University of Maryland environmental law professor. Environmental groups have slammed the proposed repeal as a danger to the climate. Future U.S. administrations seeking to regulate greenhouse gas emissions likely would need to reinstate the endangerment finding, a task that could be politically and legally complex.
The Environmental Defense Fund said that the repeal will end up costing Americans more, despite EPA’s statement that climate regulations have driven up costs for consumers. “Administrator Lee Zeldin has directed EPA to stop protecting the American people from the pollution that’s causing worse storms, floods, and skyrocketing insurance costs,” said EDF President Fred Krupp. “This action will only lead to more of this pollution, and that will lead to higher costs and real harms for American families.”
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