In a controversial move, the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed overturning the 2009 “endangerment finding” a pivotal regulation that forms the legal backbone of US climate policy. The decision has triggered widespread condemnation from environmental groups, legal experts, and former EPA chiefs.
The endangerment finding, established under President Obama’s tenure, officially recognized greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide as a threat to public health. It enabled the EPA to regulate emissions from cars, factories, and power plants under the Clean Air Act. But EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin now seeks to dismantle it, calling the finding “the Holy Grail of the climate change religion” and framing the repeal as “the largest deregulatory action in US history.”
Zeldin’s broader plan includes rolling back 31 major environmental protections many focused on clean air, water safety, and climate safeguards. One major target is tailpipe emissions standards, which were designed to push the US auto industry toward electric vehicles. Transportation remains the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country.
Environmental advocates and scientists have warned that the move dangerously ignores scientific evidence, especially amid intensifying climate disasters. “As Americans reel from deadly floods and heat waves, the Trump team is trying to argue that the emissions turbocharging these disasters are not a threat,” said Christy Goldfuss of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Former Republican EPA head Christine Todd Whitman also criticized the proposal, warning it contradicts the agency’s core mission of protecting public health.
Legal experts anticipate a major court battle. Environmental groups like NRDC and the Environmental Defense Fund are preparing lawsuits, arguing that eliminating the endangerment finding would unravel the entire legal framework for regulating climate pollution in the US.
While the proposed repeal must undergo a public comment process before becoming final in 2026, critics say the move reflects a political strategy to weaken environmental rules under the guise of economic freedom.
For now the legal and political storm is just beginning, with the future of America climate policy hanging in the balance.