Trump administration rescinds EPA endangerment finding on greenhouse gases

The Trump administration has formally rescinded the Environmental Protection Agency's 2009 endangerment finding. The determination held that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions pose a threat to public health. The finding had permitted the EPA to regulate such emissions under the Clean Air Act for nearly two decades. The repeal ends greenhouse gas emissions standards for U.S. cars and trucks. It also clears the way for heavy industry to roll back limits on air pollution. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin joined President Trump at the White House Thursday to announce the deregulation. Zeldin stated that the endangerment finding and the regulations based on it did not just regulate emissions but regulated and targeted the American dream. He added that the endangerment finding is hereby eliminated, as well as all greenhouse gas emission standards that followed. Environmental and public health groups described the repeal as a massive blow to efforts to mitigate the climate crisis worldwide. They have promised legal challenges. David Arkush, director of Public Citizen's Climate Program, said the action will hamstring the government's ability to combat the most terrible environmental threat in human history, harming Americans and the world for decades to come if left to stand.