NEW ORLEANS – On Feb. 12, the Trump administration announced its rule revoking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) greenhouse gas endangerment finding that has been in place since 2009 under the Clean Air Act.
The 2009 decision concluded that six major greenhouse gases — including carbon dioxide and methane — threaten public health and welfare and that emissions from motor vehicles contribute to that threat, triggering EPA’s authority to regulate new cars and trucks.
The 2009 action did not itself impose new requirements. Instead, it established the legal foundation for EPA greenhouse gas rules, first for vehicles and later for sectors beyond transportation, including power plants. It was based on an extensive scientific record and public comment process and has been upheld in multiple federal court challenges since its adoption.
President Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin have rescinded the endangerment finding, arguing that previous regulations exceeded the agency’s statutory authority and imposed unnecessary costs on consumers and industry. In announcing the repeal, Zeldin described it as returning “commonsense to policy” and advancing consumer choice by reducing regulatory burdens on vehicles and engines.
This position revisits the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, which held that greenhouse gases qualify as air pollutants under the Act.
Rescinding the finding does not erase the Supreme Court’s determination that gases such as carbon dioxide and methane qualify as air pollutants, but it removes the specific finding that previously required the EPA to regulate them under certain Clean Air Act provisions.
Implications for Energy and Industry
Although the current rule directly addresses emissions from vehicles, the endangerment finding also underpinned greenhouse gas regulations for other major sectors of the economy, including power plants and certain large industrial facilities that emit significant amounts of carbon dioxide. EPA officials have indicated they are evaluating whether to revisit or roll back greenhouse gas standards for those sources as well, potentially affecting federal climate regulations governing the energy and power generation sectors.
Key Groups Push Back on Trump Action
The Sierra Club has been involved in the legal fight for federal climate standards longer than any other organization. In December 2002, the Club filed the first-ever climate case under the Clean Air Act in federal court, seeking to force EPA to limit greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles under the statute.
That lawsuit ultimately led to the Court’s holding in Massachusetts and the EPA’s issuance of the endangerment finding in 2009. Now, two-and-a-half decades later, Trump and Zeldin are moving to dismantle those long-standing climate protections and roll back policies that have shaped federal greenhouse gas regulation for more than a decade.
“The Trump administration is making it their official policy that our lives, our health, and our future are of no importance to them, only polluter profits. Climate change is wreaking havoc right now, destroying communities and endangering our lives,” said Loren Blackford, Sierra Club Executive Director.
Eliminating federal greenhouse standards could also affect ongoing legal disputes. In a 2011 ruling, the Supreme Court held that EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act displaced certain federal nuisance lawsuits against major emitters. Legal analysts differ on whether rescinding the finding affects that displacement protection, a question that could ultimately be resolved in court.
“Instead of fighting it, Donald Trump is instead just focused on helping corporate polluters profit. Removing EPA’s authority to limit deadly greenhouse gas emissions is as shortsighted as it is reckless. Communities will suffer as extreme weather continues to threaten us all, costs will continue to rise, and we will saddle future generations with a world that grows increasingly unlivable and endangers the life we know. Donald Trump is abandoning his job to help the American people, and we will do everything in our power to block this misguided effort that puts polluters before people.”
