Trump repeals landmark finding that climate change endangers the public

The Hill - The Trump administration on Thursday repealed the landmark 2009 legal finding that climate change poses a threat to the public — and axed climate rules for cars and trucks that were regulated under the finding.

The repeal is an aggressive escalation in the administration’s efforts both to deny climate change’s impacts and to remove environmental regulations that it says will hold back the U.S. economy.

“Under the process just completed by the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency], we are officially terminating the so-called ‘endangerment finding,’ a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers,” Trump said during White House remarks.

“Effective immediately, we are repealing the ridiculous endangerment finding and terminating all additional green emission standards imposed unnecessarily on vehicle models and engines between 2012 and 2027 and beyond,” he added.

Trump described the actions as “the single largest deregulatory action in American history.”

While the first Trump administration weakened vehicle emissions standards, Thursday’s action gets rid of them entirely — meaning automakers will be under no federal obligation to reduce their climate impacts. 

The first Trump administration also did not go after the now-repealed finding that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health. The endangerment finding has legal significance, unpinning the nation’s climate change regulations.

The Clean Air Act requires the EPA administrator to regulate motor vehicle emissions of any pollutant that “in his judgment cause, or contribute to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.”