Trump Revokes Key Climate Ruling That Greenhouse Gases Endanger Health

President Donald Trump has moved to dismantle one of the most important pillars of US climate policy by revoking a 2009 scientific determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health. The decision wipes out the so-called “endangerment finding,” a rule which was introduced under former President Barack Obama that has served as the legal foundation for nearly all federal climate regulations over the past 17 years.

Calling the move “the single largest deregulatory action in American history, by far”, Trump said the original rule was “a disastrous Obama era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers”. “This radical rule became the legal foundation for the Green New Scam, one of the greatest scams in history,” he added at the White House.

The Environmental Protection Agency first concluded in 2009 that six greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, posed a danger to human health and welfare. That finding allowed the federal government to regulate emissions from cars, trucks, power plants, oil and gas facilities and even aircraft under the Clean Air Act.

By rescinding it, the EPA has effectively removed the legal backbone that supports the limits on climate pollution. The agency also repealed vehicle emissions standards and announced that it will end tax credits for automatic start-stop systems that are designed to cut the amount of fuel used by vehicles.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin described the endangerment finding as “the Holy Grail of federal regulatory overreach”. He argued it had “led to trillions of dollars in regulations that strangled entire sectors of the United States economy, including the American auto industry”.

Trump has repeatedly dismissed climate change as a “hoax” and a “con job”, and said the finding “had no basis in fact” or law. “On the contrary, over the generations, fossil fuels have saved millions of lives and lifted billions of people out of poverty all over the world,” he said.

The White House claims the rollback will save carmakers about $2,400 per vehicle and cut more than $1tn in regulatory costs annually. Supporters say that loosening the rules on emissions will lower energy and transport prices and help bring manufacturing back from countries like China.

But, environmental groups and legal experts say that the consequences could be severe. Critics call the move the most aggressive climate rollback of Trump’s presidency and the biggest blow yet to federal authority to tackle global warming. Peter Zalzal of the Environmental Defense Fund said weakening vehicle standards would ultimately cost Americans more in fuel and health expenses. 

Others warn it could increase exposure to extreme heat, flooding and wildfires linked to climate change. Former EPA administrator Gina McCarthy said the agency has a duty to regulate greenhouse gases, adding that the dangers of climate change have “become impossible to ignore”.

Legal challenges are already being prepared. Analysts say the administration may be aiming for a Supreme Court showdown that could permanently block future presidents from restoring similar climate rules without new legislation. “The endangerment finding has really served as the lynchpin of US regulation of greenhouse gases,” said Meghan Greenfield, a former EPA and Justice Department attorney. If they were to win that issue as they framed it before the Supreme Court, a new presidential administration could not change that position, in the absence of new legislation.”

For now, the move marks a dramatic shift in US climate policy that could reshape how, or whether, the federal government tackles planet-warming emissions for years to come.