Trump EPA Revokes 2009 Endangerment Finding, Eliminating Legal Basis for Climate Regulations

President Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the revocation of the EPA's 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, which had provided the scientific and legal foundation for federal regulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. The action, described by Trump as the 'single largest deregulatory action in American history,' eliminates all subsequent federal GHG emission standards for vehicles and engines from model years 2012 to 2027 and beyond. The 2009 finding had declared that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare based on comprehensive scientific assessment, enabling the EPA to regulate emissions under the Clean Air Act. This rollback represents the administration's most consequential climate action, effectively dismantling the legal framework that underpinned U.S. efforts to combat climate change and contradicting the scientific consensus of climate experts worldwide. The action faces immediate legal challenges from environmental gro...

"single largest deregulatory action in American history" — Trump's characterization of revoking the scientific finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health, framing the elimination of climate protections as a regulatory achievement rather than acknowledging the public health and environmental consequences