In what President Donald Trump is calling the “single largest deregulatory action in American history,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said at a White House event Thursday that his agency would repeal the 2009 endangerment finding that underlies regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.
The repeal also would invalidate any regulations subsequently formed on the finding’s basis — including vehicle tailpipe emissions standards, which the administration blames for creating uncertainty for the auto industry and stifling consumer choice.
The 2009 finding was the EPA’s scientific determination that greenhouse gas emissions are air pollutants posing a public health threat — and therefore requiring the agency to regulate such emissions under its Clean Air Act authority.
