EPA to revoke “endangerment finding,” landmark basis for regulating greenhouse gases

THE Environmental protection agency decided to revoke a key scientist who was published 16 years ago that six greenhouse gases have been a threat to public health and must be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

Known as “Funding Found”, this is the scientific base of 2009 for which the EPA regulated the greenhouse gas emissions of new motor vehicles, as well as other sources of climate pollution, but the administrator Lee Zeldin announced on Tuesday on a conservative podcast that the agency reveals the observation, the appellant “, the biggest action of deregulator in the history of America”.

Since he was signed by the administrator of the time, Lisa Jackson, in 2009, was used by the EPA to regulate the sources of pollution causing the climate change of cars, power plants and other sources of transport such as planes, as well as oil and gas operations.

But on Tuesday, the EPA published a press release saying that if the project to revoke the conclusion is finalized, it “would repeal all the regulations on greenhouse gas emissions for motor vehicles and engines, thus restoring the choice of consumers and giving the Americans the possibility of buying a safe and affordable car for their family while reducing the cost of life on all the products.”

During its appearance on the “ruthless podcast”, Zeldin criticized the conclusion of endangering, claiming that it has put too many regulatory restrictions on transport and stationary sources of greenhouse gas pollution.

“There are people who, in the name of climate change, are ready to go bankrupt the country,” he said.

Zeldin has also said that climate pollution regulations cost Americans too much money. If the proposed conclusion is finalized, it “should allow Americans to save costs of $ 54 billion per year thanks to the repeal of all greenhouse gas standards”, according to EPA press release.

But EPA’s own regulatory impact report indicates that the limitation of emissions for cars and trucks should generate more than 2.1 billions of dollars in net advantages over the next 30 years, including $ 820 billion in fuel savings and 1.8 billion of dollars of public health and climatic services.

The repeal of the observation occurs at a time when the impacts of climate change seem to reach new heights in 2024 was the hottest year ever recorded, and natural disasters are more and more intense, destructive and mortal. Since 2010, there have been disasters of 246 billion dollars hitting each American state, causing more than $ 1.7 billion in damages and killing more than 7,700 people, according to archived data from the NOAA.

“For EPA, the repeal of the 2009 conclusions on criminal negligence,” said Robert Howarth, professor of ecology and environmental biology at Cornell University, in a press release. “Science was clear in 2009 and has become much stronger and clearer since: climate disturbance is an important and increasing problem; it is mainly caused by our use of fossil fuels and carbon dioxide and methane emissions that result.”

Legality of endangerment

In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts c. EPA that greenhouse gases are a form of air pollution that can be regulated under the clean Act Act, but it has instructed the EPA to make a scientific conclusion to know if gases harm public health.

Two years later, the EPA published the conclusion of endangerment, based on in-depth scientific evidence and public contributions to definitively indicate that greenhouse gases, which cause climate change, threaten the health and well-being of current and future generations.

“I think this is the most impactful thing that I worked in during my career,” said a former EPA employee who was a key author of the conclusion of 2009 endangering and asked for anonymity due to the current contractual obligations with the federal government.

“This set of scientific evidence has experienced the endangering test of the clean Act,” he told CBS News. “He resisted the test of time and science was only stronger.”

EPA’s new proposal aims to question the agency’s ability to establish standards for car emissions, according to the press release. The complete project project is not yet accessible on the EPA website or the federal register to examine.

The press release also said that EPA “will update scientific data and will dispute the hypotheses” of the 2009 conclusion with a next study by the 2025 climate working group of the Ministry of Energy, which is not yet available.

Many conservative groups and general prosecutors have tested the legality of the conclusion and were satisfied with the announcement on Tuesday.

“Over the past four years, conservative state prosecutors have been the last line of defense in the response against the Federal Agenda of the Biden Administration and the Green New Scam Agenda,” said Indiana prosecutor Todd Rokita in a statement.

The conclusion has already been challenged in court, more recently in 2023, but the American court of appeal for the DC circuit confirmed the conclusion and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

The EPA has highlighted the subsequent decisions of the Supreme Court since the conclusion was signed in 2009 and declared that, in its press release, these cases “have considerably clarified the scope of the EPA authority under the CAA”, indicating that the agency could be opened to test whether greenhouse gases should be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

“The moving of the administration to the advantage of these standards flies to the historic decision of the Supreme Court ordering the EPA to follow science,” said Christy Goldfuss, executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a statement. “If EPA finalizes this illegal and cynical approach, we will see them in court.”

Impacts of the conclusion of the endangerment

Since its signature in 2009, the most crucial impacts of greenhouse gases have been the American transport sector, which, if its own country, would be the fourth greatest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, according to the European Commission and EPA data.

New passenger vehicles today emit 24% less climate pollution than in 2011, the year before the entry into force of the first exhaust pipe regulations, according to EPA’s own estimates. The EPA has tightened exhaust pipes for cars and trucks in 2024, which was to reduce 7.2 billion tonnes of climate pollution by 2055 and save $ 13 billion in annual health benefits.

But according to EPA’s press release, if the proposed project is finalized, it will be “canceled the under-tension of $ 1 billion of expensive regulations (and) save more than $ 54 billion per year”, although no regulatory analysis was provided to confirm these figures.

In addition to deleting cars regulations, EPA has already abandoned similar rules to limit emissions for power plants, encouraged the development of fossil fuel energy and promised To reduce dozens of additional environmental regulations which hinder the development of American energy and manufacturing.

“Trump’s EPA tries every tip of the book to deny and avoid their mission to protect people and the environment against the ravages of uncontrolled climate pollution. Instead of doing their job, this EPA puts the safety of our loved ones in danger while increasing the instability of the grid, in a declaration.