Trump Administration to Revoke 2009 Climate Endangerment Finding, White House Announces
The White House announced President Trump will formally rescind the Obama-era scientific finding that serves as the legal foundation for federal greenhouse gas regulations and climate policy.
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The Trump administration will revoke a 2009 scientific finding that has served as the central legal basis for U.S. greenhouse gas regulations and climate change policy, White House officials announced. The action, expected to take place Thursday, will formalize the rescission of what is known as the endangerment finding established during the Obama administration.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Trump will be joined by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin to announce the formal rescission of the 2009 endangerment finding. The move represents what Leavitt described as "the most significant deregulatory actions in history to further unleash American energy dominance and drive down costs."
The 2009 endangerment finding, issued by the EPA under the Obama administration, determined that greenhouse gas emissions pose a threat to public health and welfare. This scientific determination has provided the legal framework for federal regulations on vehicle emissions, power plant standards, and other climate-related policies over the past 15 years.
Regulatory Implications
The rescission of the endangerment finding is expected to lead to the repeal of vehicle emissions rules and other environmental regulations tied to greenhouse gas controls. The action removes the scientific and legal foundation that federal agencies have used to justify climate-related regulations across multiple sectors of the economy.
The announcement comes as part of what the White House characterizes as a broader deregulatory agenda aimed at reducing energy costs and promoting domestic energy production. The administration has indicated this represents one of several planned actions to roll back climate and environmental policies implemented in previous years.
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Environmental groups and climate advocates view the rescission as a dangerous rollback of science-based policy that ignores established climate research and threatens public health protections. The Sierra Club and similar organizations argue that removing the endangerment finding undermines decades of peer-reviewed scientific evidence about greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impacts.
Conservative policy organizations and energy industry groups support the action as necessary regulatory reform that will reduce compliance costs for businesses and lower energy prices for consumers. The American Energy Alliance and similar groups argue that excessive environmental regulations have burdened the economy and that market-based solutions are more effective than federal mandates.
Sources
This article was synthesized from 12 sources.