WASHINGTON, DC — The Trump administration is preparing to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency’s long-standing “endangerment finding,” a move that would dismantle the legal foundation for federal greenhouse gas regulations on vehicles, according to statements from the EPA and reporting by Reuters and The Wall Street Journal.
The endangerment finding, finalized during the Obama administration, determined that greenhouse gas emissions pose a threat to human health and welfare. That scientific conclusion has since underpinned broad federal authority to regulate emissions from cars, trucks, and other mobile sources. EPA officials said Monday that the repeal is expected to be published later this week.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin described the action as “the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States,” according to The Wall Street Journal. The proposed rule was submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget on January 7 after more than a year of internal review. When unveiled last summer, it drew more than 500,000 public comments.
If finalized, the repeal would eliminate requirements for automakers to measure, report, certify, and comply with federal greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles. EPA officials said the finding had been used by the Obama and Biden administrations to justify trillions of dollars in climate-related regulations.
Industry groups broadly support rolling back vehicle standards but have expressed concern about the legal uncertainty created by rescinding the finding altogether. Those concerns intensified after a federal court ruled last month that the Department of Energy improperly formed a climate advisory group tied to the repeal, potentially exposing the final rule to legal challenges.
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