President Donald Trump announced this week that he is striking down the Greenhouse Gas endangerment finding, a 2009 report from the Environmental Protection Agency that serves as the basis for a range of emission standards across the country.
The president announced what his EPA called “the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history” by declaring that the five main greenhouse gases no longer pose an official threat to public health.
“In this final rule, EPA is saving American taxpayers over $1.3 trillion, eliminating both the Obama-era 2009 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Endangerment Finding and all subsequent federal GHG emission standards for all vehicles and engines of model years 2012 to 2027 and beyond,” the EPA said in a press release.
The endangerment finding was an important step toward implementing policies meant to control climate change, the EPA previously reported. The finding allowed the U.S. to legally regulate greenhouse gases.
Signed into law by former President Barack Obama as part of the Clean Air Act, the endangerment finding stated that the release of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride were a danger to overall public health and welfare. Most of these gases are emitted from modern cars, according to the EPA.
Republican congressman Andy Harris (R-Md.) expressed his support for Trump’s move.
“This reversal of the ‘endangerment’ finding for automobiles will save Americans over one trillion dollars on the cost of new cars— especially important in Maryland,” he said in a statement to CNS.
But the move caused worry for some environmentalists.
“Decades of established science have verified conclusively that greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels are pollutants that cause real damage,” Jen Duggan, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project said in a statement to CNS. “For the Trump Administration to pretend that greenhouse gases are not endangering public health and welfare is a fiction that benefits the fossil fuel industry.”
Democratic representatives raised some concerns, as well.
“The endangerment finding is based on settled science: decades of peer-reviewed scientific research have proven that rising global temperatures fuel stronger hurricanes, sea level rise, increased flooding, record-breaking heat waves, and other forms of extreme weather,” Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md) said. “The threats have never been more dire to communities across the country, including our constituents in Maryland.”
Despite pushback, Trump administration officials defended the decision. Current EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin expressed his support for this action, standing next to the president as he delivered the announcement.
“The endangerment finding and the regulations that were based on it didn’t just regulate emissions, it regulated and targeted the American dream,” Zeldin said during the event.
The EPA stated in a press release that Obama’s establishment of the endangerment finding was used to justify trillions of dollars of hidden costs in regulations, including the “illegal push towards Electric Vehicle mandates.” The press release also referred to Trump’s move as a historic act of deregulation.
Trump’s action also eliminates the stop-start feature on most cars, the press release said. The feature automatically shuts car engines off when the vehicle is stopped or idled to reduce fuel consumption.
“We are officially terminating the so-called endangerment finding, a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry,” Trump said during his announcement.