The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will overturn a pivotal 2009 assessment deeming greenhouse gases a threat to public health, erasing the legal foundation for federal emission controls in a White House ceremony this Thursday.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, a deregulation advocate confirmed last year, will stand with President Trump to seal the repeal of this Obama-era ruling, which has underpinned vehicle, power plant, and industrial rules under the Clean Air Act for 17 years.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt outlined the move on Tuesday. “On Thursday, President Trump will be joined by Administrator Lee Zeldin to formalise the rescission of the 2009 Obama-era endangerment finding,” she told reporters. “This will be the largest deregulatory action in American history, and it will save the American people $1.3 trillion in crushing regulations.”
Transport, the top emitting sector, will gain swift relief from tailpipe standards, delighting fossil fuel firms long opposed to such measures while promising vast economic savings per administration estimates. Yet legal challenges loom, backed by the finding’s history of court wins, including a 2007 Supreme Court verdict and recent appeal denials.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer condemned it fiercely. “Let’s be very clear what this announcement represents: it is a corrupt giveaway to Big Oil, plain and simple,” he said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “The blast radius of this reckless decision will span from San Diego to Portland, Maine and from Seattle to Miami.”
Tesla dissented in a September letter. “The Endangerment Finding—and the vehicle emissions standards which flow from it—have provided a stable regulatory platform for Tesla’s extensive investments in product development and production,” the firm wrote.
“Reversing the Endangerment Finding would also deprive consumers of choice and extensive economic benefits, have negative effects on human health, and further impact the integrated North American automotive sector.”