The Trump administration’s EPA is set to rescind former President Barack Obama’s “endangerment finding” that served as “the legal basis for federal greenhouse-gas regulation,” according to a report in the Wall Street Journal
In a post on X, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin shared the Wall Street Journal‘s article, which stated that a “final rule” which will “be made public later this week, removes the regulatory requirements to measure, report, certify and comply with federal greenhouse-gas emission standards for motor vehicles.”
“This week, we make history,” Zeldin wrote. “Getting ready to join President Trump to announce the single largest act of deregulation in the history of the USA.”
Per the outlet, Trump administration officials told the outlet that the final rule will not “apply to rules governing emissions from power plants and other stationary sources such as oil-and-gas facilities.”:
The final rule, set to be made public later this week, removes the regulatory requirements to measure, report, certify and comply with federal greenhouse-gas emission standards for motor vehicles, and repeals associated compliance programs, credit provisions and reporting obligations for industries, according to administration officials.
It wouldn’t apply to rules governing emissions from power plants and other stationary sources such as oil-and-gas facilities, the officials said. But repealing the finding could open up the door to rolling back regulations that affect those facilities.
The move is likely to be seen as a victory for the fossil-fuel industry, which for years has pushed back against federal climate regulations. Since taking office, President Trump has sought to repeal rules that his allies in the oil-and-gas industry have cited as overly burdensome. Trump has framed fossil fuels as vital to economic and national security, and he has argued that expanded reliance on them will help lower energy prices.
Breitbart News’s Sean Moran reported in July that while in Indiana, Zeldin “released the agency’s proposal to rescind” the Obama-era Endangerment Finding.
The EPA has stated that the Endangerment Finding “has been used to justify over $1 trillion in regulations:”
The EPA has said the Endangerment Finding has been used to justify over $1 trillion in regulations, including the Biden-Harris administration’s electric vehicle mandate. Scrapping the so-called Endangerment Finding would repeal all of the greenhouse emissions regulations for motor vehicles and engines and give Americans consumer choice.
“On Thursday, President Trump will be joined by Administrator Lee Zeldin to formalize the recission of the 2009 Obama-era Endangerment Finding,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced. “This will be the largest deregulatory action in American history, and it will save the American people $1.3 trillion in crushing regulation.”
