The Trump administration is proposing to repeal the landmark finding that climate change poses a threat to the public — as well as repealing all climate regulations on cars and trucks.
Speaking in Indianapolis on Tuesday, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency is proposing to abandon the Obama-era finding on the dangers of greenhouse gases.
The endangerment finding also underpins the nation’s climate regulations, including those governing the automobile sector. The EPA’s proposal would also rescind climate regulations for cars and trucks, meaning automakers would no longer have to abide by any climate rules.
The decision goes farther than even the first Trump administration. Trump 1.0 left the endangerment finding in place but dramatically weakened Obama-era regulations on cars.
Zeldin described the move as “the largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States.”
The 2009 endangerment finding proposed that emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare, and that vehicular emissions are a contributing factor.
The Trump administration is now proposing to find instead that “that there is insufficient reliable information to retain the conclusion that GHG emissions from new motor vehicles and engines in the United States cause or contribute to endangerment to public health and welfare in the form of global climate change.”
The move comes amid a broader effort by the Trump administration to cut down on government regulations across the board, as well as to undermine efforts to combat climate change.
Climate change is primarily caused by human activity, especially the burning of fossil fuels. The phenomenon is exacerbating extreme weather around the world.
The proposal also comes during a summer plagued by repeated weather disasters including deadly flooding in Texas that killed more than 130 people, as well as floods in other parts of the country and extreme heat on the East Coast.
While on the campaign trail, President Trump repeatedly pledged to repeal climate regulations on cars in particular, arguing that they harmed the auto sector and consumers’ choices.
The EPA first made the endangerment finding in 2009 after the Massachusetts v. EPA court case. That case authorized the EPA to regulate planet-warming emissions under the Clean Air Act if the agency finds that they pose a threat to the public.
The EPA’s move on Tuesday is not final. The draft determination will need to go through a public comment period before the agency can finalize it.
—Updated at 3:19 p.m. EDT
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