{"id":473960,"date":"2026-02-14T06:39:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T06:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/473960\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T06:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T06:39:20","slug":"epa-revokes-a-key-legal-underpinning-in-fighting-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/473960\/","title":{"rendered":"EPA revokes a key legal underpinning in fighting climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration on Thursday revoked a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change<\/a>, the most aggressive move by the Republican president to roll back climate regulations.<\/p>\n

The rule finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency rescinds a 2009 government declaration known as the endangerment finding that determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare. The Obama-era finding is the legal underpinning of nearly all climate regulations<\/a> under the Clean Air Act for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources that are heating the planet. <\/p>\n

The repeal eliminates all greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks and could unleash a broader undoing of climate regulations on stationary sources such as power plants and oil and gas facilities, experts say. Legal challenges are near certain.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump called the move \u201cthe single largest deregulatory action in American history, by far,\u201d while EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the endangerment finding \u201cthe Holy Grail of federal regulatory overreach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump called the endangerment finding \u201cone of the greatest scams in history,\u201d claiming falsely that it \u201chad no basis in fact\u201d or law. \u201cOn the contrary, over the generations, fossil fuels have saved millions of lives and lifted billions of people out of poverty all over the world,\u201d Trump said at a White House ceremony, although scientists across the globe agree that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are driving catastrophic heat waves and storms,<\/a> droughts and sea level rise.<\/p>\n

Environmental groups described the move as the single biggest attack in U.S. history against federal authority to address climate change. Evidence backing up the endangerment finding<\/a> has only grown stronger in the 17 years since it was approved, they said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Jeffrey Energy Center coal-fired power plant operates at sunset near Emmett, Kan., Jan. 3, 2026, in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel, file)<\/p>\n

The Jeffrey Energy Center coal-fired power plant operates at sunset near Emmett, Kan., Jan. 3, 2026, in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel, file)<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis action will only lead to more climate pollution, and that will lead to higher costs and real harms for American families,\u201d said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund, adding that the consequences would be felt on Americans\u2019 health, property values, water supply and more. <\/p>\n

The EPA also said it will propose a two-year delay to a Biden-era rule restricting greenhouse gas emissions by cars and light trucks. And the agency will end incentives for automakers who install automatic start-stop ignition<\/a> systems in their vehicles. The device is intended to reduce emissions, but Zeldin said \u201ceveryone hates\u201d it.<\/p>\n

Zeldin, a former Republican congressman who was tapped by Trump to lead EPA last year, has criticized his predecessors in Democratic administrations, saying that in the name of tackling climate change, they were \u201cwilling to bankrupt the country.\u201d <\/p>\n

The endangerment finding \u201cled to trillions of dollars in regulations that strangled entire sectors of the United States economy, including the American auto industry,\u201d Zeldin said. \u201cThe Obama and Biden administrations used it to steamroll into existence a left-wing wish list of costly climate policies, electric vehicle mandates and other requirements that assaulted consumer choice and affordability.\u201d<\/p>\n

The endangerment finding and the regulations based on it \u201cdidn\u2019t just regulate emissions, it regulated and targeted the American dream. And now the endangerment finding is hereby eliminated,\u201d Zeldin said.<\/p>\n

Supreme Court has upheld the endangerment finding<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court ruled in a 2007 case that planet-warming greenhouse gases, caused by the burning of oil and other fossil fuels, are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.<\/p>\n

Since the high court\u2019s decision, in a case known as Massachusetts v. EPA<\/a>, courts have uniformly rejected legal challenges to the endangerment finding, including a 2023 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.<\/p>\n

The endangerment finding is widely considered the legal foundation that underpins a series of regulations intended to protect against threats made increasingly severe by climate change. That includes deadly floods, extreme heat waves, catastrophic wildfires and other natural disasters in the United States and around the world.<\/p>\n

Gina McCarthy, a former EPA administrator who served as White House climate adviser in the Biden administration, called the Trump administration\u2019s actions reckless. \u201cThis EPA would rather spend its time in court working for the fossil fuel industry than protecting us from pollution and the escalating impacts of climate change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Former President Barack Obama said on X that repeal of the endangerment finding will make Americans \u201cless safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change \u2014 all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Lisa Patel, a pediatrician and executive director of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, said Trump\u2019s action \u201cprioritizes the profits of big oil and gas companies and polluters over clean air and water\u201d and children\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result of this repeal, I\u2019m going to see more sick kids come into the Emergency Department having asthma attacks and more babies born prematurely,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cMy colleagues will see more heart attacks and cancer in their patients.\u201d <\/p>\n

David Doniger, a climate expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Trump and Zeldin are trying to use repeal of the finding as a \u201ckill shot\u2019\u2019 that would allow the administration to make nearly all climate regulations invalid. The repeal could erase current limits on greenhouse gas pollution from cars, factories, power plants and other sources and could hinder future administrations from imposing rules to address global warming.<\/p>\n

The EPA action follows an executive order<\/a> from Trump that directed the agency to submit a report on \u201cthe legality and continuing applicability\u201d of the endangerment finding. Conservatives and some congressional Republicans have long sought to undo what they consider overly restrictive and economically damaging rules to limit greenhouse gases that cause global warming.<\/p>\n

Withdrawing the endangerment finding \u201cis the most important step taken by the Trump administration so far to return to energy and economic sanity,\u201d said Myron Ebell, a conservative activist who has questioned the science behind climate change. <\/p>\n

Tailpipe emission limits targeted<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Motor<\/p>\n

Motor vehicle traffic moves along the Interstate 76 highway in Philadelphia, March 31, 2021. (AP Photo\/Matt Rourke, File)<\/p>\n

Motor vehicle traffic moves along the Interstate 76 highway in Philadelphia, March 31, 2021. (AP Photo\/Matt Rourke, File)<\/p>\n

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Zeldin and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have moved to drastically scale back limits on tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks. Rules imposed under Democratic President Joe Biden were intended to encourage U.S. automakers to build and sell more electric vehicles<\/a>. The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration announced a proposal in December to weaken vehicle mileage rules<\/a> for the auto industry, loosening regulatory pressure on automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and trucks. The EPA said its two-year delay to a Biden-era rule on greenhouse gas emissions by cars and light trucks will give the agency time to develop a plan that better reflects the reality of slower EV sales, while promoting consumer choice and lowering prices.<\/p>\n

Environmental groups said the plan would keep polluting, gas-burning cars and trucks on U.S. roads for years to come, threatening the health of millions of Americans, particularly children and the elderly.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow the AP\u2019s coverage of the Environmental Protection Agency at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/us-environmental-protection-agency<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration on Thursday revoked a scientific finding that long has been the central…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[2843,22323,1780,45,49,48,2848,2847,6093,13444,192625,1376,9890,295,192623,2841,192622,39937,154246,146710,6512,192626,3336,714,8568,66,32359,176726,192624,18391,772,8615],"class_list":{"0":"post-473960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ap-top-news","9":"tag-auto-industry","10":"tag-barack-obama","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-ca","13":"tag-canada","14":"tag-climate","15":"tag-climate-and-environment","16":"tag-climate-change","17":"tag-courts","18":"tag-david-doniger","19":"tag-donald-trump","20":"tag-energy-industry","21":"tag-environment","22":"tag-fred-krupp","23":"tag-general-news","24":"tag-gina-mccarthy","25":"tag-government-regulations","26":"tag-greenhouse-effect","27":"tag-industry-regulation","28":"tag-joe-biden","29":"tag-lisa-patel","30":"tag-massachusetts","31":"tag-politics","32":"tag-pollution","33":"tag-science","34":"tag-sean-duffy","35":"tag-send-to-apple-news","36":"tag-transportation-technology","37":"tag-u-s-environmental-protection-agency","38":"tag-united-states","39":"tag-washington-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}