EPA Moves to Revoke Finding That Allows Climate Regulation

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on July 29 proposed a repeal of its long-standing “endangerment findings” of a connection between individual motor vehicle emissions and changes in the climate, according to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.

It would repeal $1 trillion in regulations, saving $54 billion per year, according to the EPA.

The repeal would “end 16 years of uncertainty for automakers and American consumers,” Zeldin said at an auto dealership in Indiana.

“In our work so far, many stakeholders have told me that the Obama and Biden EPAs twisted the law, ignored precedent, and warped science to achieve their preferred ends and stick American families with hundreds of billions of dollars in hidden taxes every single year,” he said.

“We heard loud and clear the concern that EPA’s GHG emissions standards themselves, not carbon dioxide, which the finding never assessed independently, were the real threat to Americans’ livelihoods.”

Zeldin in March had called for a rewrite of the endangerment findings, announcing that 31 environmental rules would be rolled back or repealed in what he called “the greatest day of deregulation in American history.”

According to the EPA’s website, two findings were signed in December 2009 under a section of the Clean Air Act that have underpinned environmental regulations on the transportation industry ever since, from tailpipe emissions to electric vehicle mandates.

The first finding said “current and projected concentrations” of six well-mixed greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, in the atmosphere threatened public health and welfare. The second found that the combined emissions from new motor vehicles and new motor vehicle engines contributed to greenhouse gas pollution.

“These findings do not themselves impose any requirements on industry or other entities,” the EPA stated. “However, this action was a prerequisite for implementing greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles and other sectors.”

Zeldin told Newsmax on July 23 that his office had taken unofficial steps to progress the proposed repeal of the findings and that there had been “trillions” of dollars’ worth of regulations built off of the findings in the past 16 years.

“There are people who, in the name of climate change, are willing to bankrupt the country,” Zeldin said. “They created this endangerment finding and then they are able to put all these regulations on vehicles, on airplanes, on stationary sources, to basically regulate out of existence, in many cases, a lot of segments of our economy.”

Environmental activists, meanwhile, see the findings as essential for ensuring necessary environmental protections.

“The Endangerment Finding is the legal foundation that underpins vital protections for millions of people from the severe threats of climate change, and the Clean Car and Truck Standards are among the most important and effective protections to address the largest U.S. source of climate-causing pollution,” said Peter Zalzal, associate vice president of the Environmental Defense Fund.

The EPA’s proposal will be put on the federal register, where it will undergo a long review process before being finalized as a rule, which includes space for public comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.