“EPA has sent to the Office of Management and Budget a proposed rule to repeal the 2009 endangerment finding from the Obama EPA,” Zeldin told Newsmax.
“Through the endangerment finding, there has been into the trillions worth of regulations, including tailpipe emissions and including electric vehicle mandates,” he added.
In 2009, then-President Obama’s administration made a formal determination that greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide and methane posed a threat to public health. It found emissions from vehicles contributed to the problem.
The finding provided a legal basis for EPA regulations on these planet-heating gases, including for its rules requiring automakers’ to cut emissions from their vehicle fleets.
The Trump administration’s move comes despite a consensus from the scientific community that human activity, especially its use of fossil fuels, is heating up the planet. This heating in turn exacerbates extreme weather.
During President Trump’s first term, his administration weakened limits on planet-warming emissions, including from vehicles, but it did not repeal the endangerment finding.
The proposal to repeal it signals an escalation that could prevent the agency from having climate regulations on the books at all.
Read more at TheHill.com.
