Trump Administration Repeals EPA Endangerment Finding, Dismantling Legal Foundation for US Climate Regulation

The Trump administration on Thursday finalized the repeal of the Environmental Protection Agency’s endangerment finding, the 2009 scientific determination that greenhouse gas emissions threaten public health and welfare. The move eliminates the legal foundation for virtually all federal climate regulation in the United States and has been described by environmental groups as the most significant rollback in the agency’s 55-year history Climate leaders condemn Trump EPA’s biggest rollback yet: ‘This is corruption’theguardian.com·SecondaryLeaders promise to fight back with court challenges as Trump rescinds finding foundational to US climate rules Climate leaders gathered outside the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters on Wednesday to condemn the Trump administration’s plans to repeal the legal finding underpinning all federal climate regulations, and promised to fight against the rollback. “This is corruption, plain and simple..

President Donald Trump called the repeal “the single largest deregulatory action in American history” at a White House event alongside EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin . The endangerment finding, established under President Barack Obama, classified carbon dioxide, methane, and four other greenhouse gases as threats to public health under the Clean Air Act, providing the legal basis for emissions standards on vehicles, power plants, and industrial facilities Climate leaders condemn Trump EPA’s biggest rollback yet: ‘This is corruption’theguardian.com·SecondaryLeaders promise to fight back with court challenges as Trump rescinds finding foundational to US climate rules Climate leaders gathered outside the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters on Wednesday to condemn the Trump administration’s plans to repeal the legal finding underpinning all federal climate regulations, and promised to fight against the rollback. “This is corruption, plain and simple..

The immediate effect of the repeal eliminates all greenhouse gas emissions standards on light, medium, and heavy-duty vehicles. Zeldin declared that automakers would no longer be pressured to shift their fleets toward electric vehicles Trump’s EPA repeals landmark climate finding in gift to ‘billionaire polluters’theguardian.com·SecondaryEndangerment finding rollback will make families ‘sicker and less safe’, environmental advocate says The Trump administration has revoked the bedrock scientific determination which gives the government the ability to regulate climate-heating pollution. The move was described as a gift to “billionaire polluters” at the expense of Americans’ health.. The repeal does not immediately apply to stationary sources such as power plants, which are regulated under a separate section of the Clean Air Act. However, the EPA has separately proposed finding that power plant emissions do not contribute significantly to dangerous air pollution, signalling that those regulations will follow Trump’s EPA repeals landmark climate finding in gift to ‘billionaire polluters’theguardian.com·SecondaryEndangerment finding rollback will make families ‘sicker and less safe’, environmental advocate says The Trump administration has revoked the bedrock scientific determination which gives the government the ability to regulate climate-heating pollution. The move was described as a gift to “billionaire polluters” at the expense of Americans’ health..

Joseph Goffman, who served as EPA air chief under President Joe Biden and helped write and implement the Clean Air Act, warned that the repeal would function like falling dominoes. Instead of the entire structure of climate regulation collapsing at once, he said, each category of emissions standards would be dismantled in sequence Trump’s EPA repeals landmark climate finding in gift to ‘billionaire polluters’theguardian.com·SecondaryEndangerment finding rollback will make families ‘sicker and less safe’, environmental advocate says The Trump administration has revoked the bedrock scientific determination which gives the government the ability to regulate climate-heating pollution. The move was described as a gift to “billionaire polluters” at the expense of Americans’ health..

The administration has claimed the repeal will save Americans $1.3 trillion, though it has not explained how officials arrived at that figure . Experts and advocacy groups have challenged this claim. An analysis by the Environmental Defense Fund found that fully repealing the endangerment finding and rolling back motor vehicle standards would result in as much as 18 billion additional tons of planet-warming pollution by 2055 — equivalent to the annual emissions of China — and would impose up to $4.7 trillion in climate and health costs Trump’s EPA repeals landmark climate finding in gift to ‘billionaire polluters’theguardian.com·SecondaryEndangerment finding rollback will make families ‘sicker and less safe’, environmental advocate says The Trump administration has revoked the bedrock scientific determination which gives the government the ability to regulate climate-heating pollution. The move was described as a gift to “billionaire polluters” at the expense of Americans’ health..

Environmental organizations have condemned the action and promised immediate legal challenges. The Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice, and Sierra Club all pledged to file litigation . Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the groups would take the fight to the courts and predicted they would prevail Climate leaders condemn Trump EPA’s biggest rollback yet: ‘This is corruption’theguardian.com·SecondaryLeaders promise to fight back with court challenges as Trump rescinds finding foundational to US climate rules Climate leaders gathered outside the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters on Wednesday to condemn the Trump administration’s plans to repeal the legal finding underpinning all federal climate regulations, and promised to fight against the rollback. “This is corruption, plain and simple.. The Sierra Club, the largest environmental organization in the United States, said the administration had formalized climate denialism as official government policy and warned that eliminating emissions standards could expose industries to a flood of private lawsuits Trump’s EPA repeals landmark climate finding in gift to ‘billionaire polluters’theguardian.com·SecondaryEndangerment finding rollback will make families ‘sicker and less safe’, environmental advocate says The Trump administration has revoked the bedrock scientific determination which gives the government the ability to regulate climate-heating pollution. The move was described as a gift to “billionaire polluters” at the expense of Americans’ health..

The legal vulnerability is significant. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2011 that companies cannot be sued under federal common law over greenhouse emissions precisely because regulation had been delegated to the EPA. With the EPA now abandoning that regulatory role, legal experts say the door reopens for direct litigation against polluters Trump’s EPA repeals landmark climate finding in gift to ‘billionaire polluters’theguardian.com·SecondaryEndangerment finding rollback will make families ‘sicker and less safe’, environmental advocate says The Trump administration has revoked the bedrock scientific determination which gives the government the ability to regulate climate-heating pollution. The move was described as a gift to “billionaire polluters” at the expense of Americans’ health..

Political opposition has also crystallized. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island called the repeal plain political corruption driven by fossil fuel industry influence over the agency . Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts drew a direct line to campaign contributions, noting that Trump had reportedly asked oil executives for $1 billion on the campaign trail in exchange for scrapping environmental rules Climate leaders condemn Trump EPA’s biggest rollback yet: ‘This is corruption’theguardian.com·SecondaryLeaders promise to fight back with court challenges as Trump rescinds finding foundational to US climate rules Climate leaders gathered outside the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters on Wednesday to condemn the Trump administration’s plans to repeal the legal finding underpinning all federal climate regulations, and promised to fight against the rollback. “This is corruption, plain and simple.. The coal industry alone invested $3.5 million in Trump’s 2024 election effort Climate leaders condemn Trump EPA’s biggest rollback yet: ‘This is corruption’theguardian.com·SecondaryLeaders promise to fight back with court challenges as Trump rescinds finding foundational to US climate rules Climate leaders gathered outside the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters on Wednesday to condemn the Trump administration’s plans to repeal the legal finding underpinning all federal climate regulations, and promised to fight against the rollback. “This is corruption, plain and simple..

California Governor Gavin Newsom and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, co-chairs of the bipartisan US Climate Alliance, issued a joint statement calling the action unlawful and a denial of basic science Trump’s EPA repeals landmark climate finding in gift to ‘billionaire polluters’theguardian.com·SecondaryEndangerment finding rollback will make families ‘sicker and less safe’, environmental advocate says The Trump administration has revoked the bedrock scientific determination which gives the government the ability to regulate climate-heating pollution. The move was described as a gift to “billionaire polluters” at the expense of Americans’ health.. Gina McCarthy, former EPA administrator who now chairs America Is All In, a coalition of climate-concerned states and cities, said the EPA had chosen to spend its time working for the fossil fuel industry rather than protecting the public Trump’s EPA repeals landmark climate finding in gift to ‘billionaire polluters’theguardian.com·SecondaryEndangerment finding rollback will make families ‘sicker and less safe’, environmental advocate says The Trump administration has revoked the bedrock scientific determination which gives the government the ability to regulate climate-heating pollution. The move was described as a gift to “billionaire polluters” at the expense of Americans’ health..

The endangerment finding was based on extensive peer-reviewed research and had been repeatedly upheld in federal courts . A federal judge ruled last month that a July energy department report used to justify the repeal proposal had been created unlawfully Trump’s EPA repeals landmark climate finding in gift to ‘billionaire polluters’theguardian.com·SecondaryEndangerment finding rollback will make families ‘sicker and less safe’, environmental advocate says The Trump administration has revoked the bedrock scientific determination which gives the government the ability to regulate climate-heating pollution. The move was described as a gift to “billionaire polluters” at the expense of Americans’ health.. The EPA received half a million public comments on the proposed repeal Trump’s EPA repeals landmark climate finding in gift to ‘billionaire polluters’theguardian.com·SecondaryEndangerment finding rollback will make families ‘sicker and less safe’, environmental advocate says The Trump administration has revoked the bedrock scientific determination which gives the government the ability to regulate climate-heating pollution. The move was described as a gift to “billionaire polluters” at the expense of Americans’ health..

The repeal is part of a broader pattern of environmental deregulation under the Trump administration. Over the past year, the president has withdrawn the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, repealed key tax subsidies for solar, wind, and electric vehicles, and signed an executive order directing the Defense Department to procure more power from coal . On the same day as the repeal, Trump received the inaugural Undisputed Champion of Coal title from the Washington Coal Club, a pro-coal industry organization Climate leaders condemn Trump EPA’s biggest rollback yet: ‘This is corruption’theguardian.com·SecondaryLeaders promise to fight back with court challenges as Trump rescinds finding foundational to US climate rules Climate leaders gathered outside the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters on Wednesday to condemn the Trump administration’s plans to repeal the legal finding underpinning all federal climate regulations, and promised to fight against the rollback. “This is corruption, plain and simple..

Rachel Cleetus, senior policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, described the move as part of an authoritarian playbook to replace facts with propaganda and enrich a few while harming everyone else Trump’s EPA repeals landmark climate finding in gift to ‘billionaire polluters’theguardian.com·SecondaryEndangerment finding rollback will make families ‘sicker and less safe’, environmental advocate says The Trump administration has revoked the bedrock scientific determination which gives the government the ability to regulate climate-heating pollution. The move was described as a gift to “billionaire polluters” at the expense of Americans’ health.. Dominique Browning of Moms Clean Air Force called it the most aggressive act of dismantling public health protections in the EPA’s history Trump’s EPA repeals landmark climate finding in gift to ‘billionaire polluters’theguardian.com·SecondaryEndangerment finding rollback will make families ‘sicker and less safe’, environmental advocate says The Trump administration has revoked the bedrock scientific determination which gives the government the ability to regulate climate-heating pollution. The move was described as a gift to “billionaire polluters” at the expense of Americans’ health..

The American Petroleum Institute, the top US oil lobby, has supported repealing the endangerment finding for vehicles but notably stopped short of endorsing a full repeal covering stationary sources like power plants — a signal that even some industry groups view the scope of the rollback as potentially destabilizing Trump’s EPA repeals landmark climate finding in gift to ‘billionaire polluters’theguardian.com·SecondaryEndangerment finding rollback will make families ‘sicker and less safe’, environmental advocate says The Trump administration has revoked the bedrock scientific determination which gives the government the ability to regulate climate-heating pollution. The move was described as a gift to “billionaire polluters” at the expense of Americans’ health..