EPA Rescinds 2009 Endangerment Finding, Ending Vehicle Emission Standards

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday finalized a rule rescinding its 2009 “endangerment finding,” the determination that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare, President Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced at the White House, according to CBS News, NBC News and CNBC. Trump called it “the single largest deregulatory action in American history, by far,” according to Al Jazeera and France 24.

The finding, issued under President Barack Obama, concluded that carbon dioxide, methane and four other greenhouse gases endanger current and future generations. It followed a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act, as CNBC, NBC News and TIME reported. It has been the legal foundation for most federal climate rules covering motor vehicles, power plants and other sources, according to France 24 and CNBC.

Rescinding it repeals all greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks, according to Al Jazeera, France 24 and CNBC. Experts say it could also lead to a wider rollback of climate rules for power plants and oil and gas facilities, Al Jazeera and France 24 reported. The EPA will also end tax credits for automakers that install automatic start-stop ignition systems, which are meant to reduce emissions; Zeldin said “everyone hates” them, according to Al Jazeera and France 24.

Zeldin called the finding “the Holy Grail of federal regulatory overreach” and said it “led to trillions of dollars in regulations” that hurt sectors of the economy, according to Al Jazeera and France 24. He said automakers will no longer be pressured to shift their fleets toward electric vehicles, CNBC and CBS News reported. Trump called the finding a “disastrous Obama-era policy” with “no basis in fact,” according to CBS News and NBC News. The administration put the savings from the rollback at about $1.3 trillion in regulatory costs, CBS News and TIME reported, though TIME noted the EPA did not explain how it reached the figure.

Environmental and public health groups sharply criticized the move. Fred Krupp of the Environmental Defense Fund said it would lead to more pollution, higher costs and harm to families, according to CBS News and Euronews. Former President Obama said on social media that the action makes the country “less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change,” CBS News, NBC News and CNBC reported. Gina McCarthy, a former EPA administrator, called the actions reckless, according to Al Jazeera, France 24 and Euronews.

Legal challenges are expected. CBS News reported that the 2009 finding rests on long-standing science and federal court rulings, including the Supreme Court’s affirmation that greenhouse gases are air pollutants, which it said leaves the administration open to prolonged court fights. France 24 and Al Jazeera cited law professor Ann Carlson, who told the Associated Press that overturning the finding will raise more havoc than other Trump rollbacks of environmental rules. Conservatives and some Republican lawmakers have long argued that climate rules are too restrictive and hurt the economy, Euronews reported.