US to overturn foundational climate ruling on Tuesday
Zeldin accused the Environmental Protection Agency under former president Barack Obama of taking "mental leaps," when developing the finding based on overwhelming scientific consensus and peer-reviewed research.
Agreeing with a podcast host who called the finding a "hub to the spoke of the left's environment agenda," Zeldin said: "This has been referred to as basically driving a dagger into the heart of the climate change religion."
"Conservatives love the environment, want to be good stewards of the environment," he continued.
But "there are people who then, in the name of climate change, are willing to bankrupt the country in the name of environmental justice."
The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
The Endangerment Finding granted the EPA power to regulate emissions under the Clean Air Act and served as the legal backbone for a range of climate rules, extending beyond vehicles to power plant standards to methane limits on oil and gas operations.
According to a recent analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council, if it were a country, the US transportation sector would rank as the fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases globally, while the power sector would be fifth.
Dan Becker of the Center for Biological Diversity told AFP the Endangerment Finding has survived multiple legal challenges by industry over the years. "But this time, it's the government itself mounting the attack," he said.
Environmental groups and states are expected to sue quickly. The legal battle could ultimately reach the Supreme Court, which would have to overturn its own 2007 ruling that paved the way for the Endangerment Finding.
"Hopefully they will recognize that this is science and not politics -- that there was a good reason for that precedent and no good reason to revoke it," said Becker. "But this is a very political court."
Since returning to office, Trump has withdrawn the United States from the Paris Agreement on global warming and launched a sweeping campaign to expand fossil fuel development, including new moves this week to open ecologically sensitive areas of Alaska to drilling.
The announcement comes as the planet swelters under historic levels of warming. Tens of millions of Americans are baking under a brutal heat dome gripping the Southeast, while climate-fueled floods killed more than 100 people in Texas earlier this month.
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France 24
3 days ago
- France 24
Trump administration pushes to reverse scientific ruling behind climate regulations
President Donald Trump 's administration on Tuesday moved to reverse a foundational scientific determination that underpins the US government's authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles and, more broadly, to combat climate change. Speaking at an auto dealership in Indianapolis, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin argued that the 2009 Endangerment Finding was based on flawed reasoning and had inflicted serious economic harm. "If finalized, today's announcement would amount to the largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States," said the former Republican congressman. He was joined by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a former fracking company CEO, whose department published a climate science study cited in the EPA action. The proposed reversal -- first announced in March -- will be subject to a 45-day public comment period and is certain to face legal challenges. While Zeldin cast the move as a way to undo what he called the " Biden - Harris administration's electric vehicle (EV) mandate," revoking the Endangerment Finding could also unravel the legal basis for a wide array of climate regulations, including those on power plants and oil and gas operations. In his remarks, Zeldin accused the EPA under former president Barack Obama, a Democrat, of making "mental leaps" in determining that heat-trapping gases posed a threat to public health and welfare. The EPA said in a press release that the finding had "been used to justify over $1 trillion in regulations" and undoing it would save $54 billion annually. A 302-page document outlining the rationale for the revocation makes a number of bold claims around climate science, including the assertion that "extreme weather events have not demonstrably increased relative to historical highs," citing the Energy Department report. It also speaks about the "beneficial impacts" of carbon emissions on plant growth and agricultural productivity. The Endangerment Finding was grounded in overwhelming scientific consensus and peer-reviewed research. It followed a landmark 2007 Supreme Court ruling that found greenhouse gases qualify as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act and directed the EPA to revisit its position. Transportation accounts for 28 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions -- more than any other sector. If it were a country, the US transportation sector would rank as the fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases globally, while the power sector would be fifth. Legal battle looms Environmental groups and states are expected to swiftly sue. The case could ultimately reach the Supreme Court, which may need to overturn its own 2007 precedent to side with the current Republican administration. Dan Becker of the Center for Biological Diversity told AFP the Endangerment Finding has survived multiple legal challenges by industry over the years, "but this time, it's the government itself mounting the attack." "Hopefully they will recognize that this is science and not politics -- that there was a good reason for that precedent and no good reason to revoke it," said Becker. "But this is a very political court." He added that the administration's cost-saving arguments were misleading, pointing to official data showing that rules now targeted for repeal saved the average American driver $6,000 in fuel and maintenance over the lifetime of vehicles built under the standards. Camille Pannu, an environmental law specialist at Columbia University, told AFP the Trump administration had failed to present robust legal arguments grounded in scientific evidence in its proposal. "I think they're hoping they can just refuse to regulate for four years and do crazy things during that time while it's all tied up in court," she said. Since returning to office, Trump has withdrawn the US from the Paris Agreement and launched a sweeping campaign to expand fossil fuel development. The announcement comes as tens of millions of Americans are baking under a brutal heat dome in the Southeast, while climate-fueled flooding earlier this month killed more than 100 people in Texas.
France 24
4 days ago
- France 24
US to overturn foundational climate ruling on Tuesday
Appearing on the right-wing "Ruthless Podcast," Zeldin said: "Later today, we're going to be making a big announcement in Indiana" about the so-called Endangerment Finding of 2009, which concluded that greenhouse trapping gases from motor vehicles were a threat to public health and welfare. Zeldin accused the Environmental Protection Agency under former president Barack Obama of taking "mental leaps," when developing the finding based on overwhelming scientific consensus and peer-reviewed research. Agreeing with a podcast host who called the finding a "hub to the spoke of the left's environment agenda," Zeldin said: "This has been referred to as basically driving a dagger into the heart of the climate change religion." "Conservatives love the environment, want to be good stewards of the environment," he continued. But "there are people who then, in the name of climate change, are willing to bankrupt the country in the name of environmental justice." The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The Endangerment Finding granted the EPA power to regulate emissions under the Clean Air Act and served as the legal backbone for a range of climate rules, extending beyond vehicles to power plant standards to methane limits on oil and gas operations. According to a recent analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council, if it were a country, the US transportation sector would rank as the fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases globally, while the power sector would be fifth. Dan Becker of the Center for Biological Diversity told AFP the Endangerment Finding has survived multiple legal challenges by industry over the years. "But this time, it's the government itself mounting the attack," he said. Environmental groups and states are expected to sue quickly. The legal battle could ultimately reach the Supreme Court, which would have to overturn its own 2007 ruling that paved the way for the Endangerment Finding. "Hopefully they will recognize that this is science and not politics -- that there was a good reason for that precedent and no good reason to revoke it," said Becker. "But this is a very political court." Since returning to office, Trump has withdrawn the United States from the Paris Agreement on global warming and launched a sweeping campaign to expand fossil fuel development, including new moves this week to open ecologically sensitive areas of Alaska to drilling. The announcement comes as the planet swelters under historic levels of warming. Tens of millions of Americans are baking under a brutal heat dome gripping the Southeast, while climate-fueled floods killed more than 100 people in Texas earlier this month.
France 24
25-07-2025
- France 24
Trump administration expected to say greenhouse gases aren't harmful
A proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to change the so-called "Endangerment Finding" was sent to the White House on June 30, a spokesperson told AFP. An announcement is expected imminently. Here's what to know -- and what's at stake if the finding is overturned. What is the Endangerment Finding? The Clean Air Act of 1970 empowered the EPA to regulate "air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare." For decades, the law applied to pollutants like lead, ozone and soot. But as climate science around the dangers of heat-trapping greenhouse gases advanced in the 2000s, a coalition of states and nonprofit groups petitioned the EPA to include them under the law, focusing on motor vehicles. The issue reached the Supreme Court, which in 2007 ruled that greenhouse gases qualify as air pollutants and directed the EPA to revisit its stance. That led to the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which declared greenhouse gases a threat to public health and welfare, based on overwhelming scientific consensus and peer-reviewed research. "That 2009 finding formed the basis for all of EPA's subsequent regulations," Meredith Hankins, a senior attorney on climate and energy for the activist Natural Resources Defense Council, told AFP. "They've issued greenhouse gas standards for tailpipe emissions from motor vehicles, smokestack emissions from power plants -- all of these individual rulemakings trace themselves back to the 2009 Endangerment Finding." What is the Trump administration doing? The Endangerment Finding has withstood multiple legal challenges, and although Trump's first administration considered reversing it, they ultimately held back. But the finding is now a direct target of Project 2025, a far-right governance blueprint closely followed by the administration. In March, the EPA under Administrator Lee Zeldin announced a formal reconsideration of the finding. "The Trump Administration will not sacrifice national prosperity, energy security, and the freedom of our people for an agenda that throttles our industries, our mobility, and our consumer choice while benefiting adversaries overseas," he said. The government is expected to undo the earlier finding that greenhouse gases endanger public welfare. It will argue that the economic costs of regulation have been undervalued -- and downplay the role of US motor vehicle emissions in climate change. In fact, transportation is the largest source of US greenhouse gas emissions. "If vehicle emissions don't pass muster as a contribution to climate change, it's hard to imagine what would," Dena Adler of the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University told AFP. "It's fatalistic to avoid taking the many actions that could cumulatively fix climate change, because none of them can individually solve the entire problem." Since 1970, the United States has emitted more vehicle-based greenhouse gases than the next nine countries combined, according to an analysis by the Institute for Policy Integrity that will soon be published in full. Could they succeed? In March, the EPA said it would lean on recent court rulings, including a landmark 2024 decision that narrowed federal regulatory power. Still, legal experts say the administration faces an uphill battle. "It will take a few years for the rule to be finalized and wind its way up to the Supreme Court for review," said Adler. "If EPA loses before the Supreme Court, it gets sent back, and EPA then gets it back to the drawing board" -- by which time Trump's term may be nearing its end. To succeed, the high court may need to overturn its own 2007 decision that led to the Endangerment Finding. None of the justices who wrote the majority opinion remain on the bench, while three dissenters -- John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito -- still serve, and could spearhead a drive to upend the original ruling. Even then, market forces may blunt the impact of any rollback. "Utilities making long-term investments and companies purchasing capital goods expected to be used for decades won't base those decisions on short-term policy changes," said John Tobin-de la Puente, a professor at Cornell University's business school. That's especially true when those swings run counter to business trends and could be undone by a future administration, he added.
