The Environmental Protection Agency will rescind the long-standing finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, as well as tailpipe emission standards for vehicles, setting off what it describes as the largest deregulatory action in U.S. history.
Republican President Donald Trump’s pick to run the EPA Lee Zeldin announced the agency’s plan to rescind the “endangerment finding” on the Ruthless podcast on Tuesday, saying it will save Americans money and unravel two decades of regulation aimed at reducing carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases from cars, power plants, oil production and other sources.
In 2009, the EPA under former Democratic President Barack Obama issued a finding that emissions from new motor vehicles contribute to pollution and endanger public health and welfare. It was upheld in several legal challenges and underpinned subsequent greenhouse gas regulations.
“With regard to the endangerment finding, they’ll say carbon dioxide is a pollutant and that’s the end of it. They’ll never acknowledge any type of benefit or need for carbon dioxide,” Zeldin told the podcast. “It’s important to note, and they don’t, how important it is for the planet.” Reuters reported last week that the EPA plans to repeal all greenhouse gas emission standards for light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles and engines in the coming days after it removes the scientific finding that justified those rules, according to a summary.
It is also expected to justify rescinding the endangerment finding by casting doubt on the scientific record used to make the finding, saying that “developments cast significant doubt on the reliability of the findings,” the summary seen by Reuters says.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in its landmark Massachusetts v. EPA case in 2007, said the EPA has authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and required the agency to make a scientific finding on whether they endanger public health.
Zeldin said he will make the formal announcement on Tuesday afternoon in Indiana.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici Editing by Marguerita Choy)