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The Trump administration is poised to rescind a pivotal 2009 legal declaration that identifies climate change as a public threat.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal late Monday, this repeal, which is foundational to the nation’s climate regulations, is anticipated to be announced this week. A White House official confirmed the accuracy of this report to The Hill.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in a written communication on Tuesday, “This week, President Trump will undertake the most significant deregulatory actions in history at the White House, aiming to further bolster American energy dominance and reduce costs.”
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), when proposing the repeal last year, also suggested eliminating all climate regulations for vehicles. The final repeal is expected to follow suit, marking a substantial rollback as transportation accounts for the largest share of U.S. emissions.
An EPA spokesperson commented that without the endangerment finding, “the EPA would lack statutory authority under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act to establish standards for certain motor vehicle emissions.”
The spokesperson described the endangerment finding as “one of the most damaging decisions in modern history,” but did not say whether its repeal would happen this week.
The nation’s regulatory dashboard says that last year’s proposal is still “pending review” at the White House.
Repealing the endangerment finding would be a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s battle against green policies — going further than the first Trump administration which simply loosened auto emissions standards but left the endangerment finding in place.
The Clean Air Act requires the EPA administrator to regulate emissions from vehicles of any pollutant that “in his judgment cause, or contribute to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.”
The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that planet-warming emissions fall under the law’s definition of air pollutants and should be regulated if they’re found to be a threat to public health.
In 2009, the Obama administration determined that they do, in fact, pose a threat.
The EPA said at the time that “increases in ambient ozone are expected to occur over broad areas of the country, and they are expected to increase serious adverse health effects in large population areas.”
“The impact on mortality and morbidity associated with increases in average temperatures, which increase the likelihood of heat waves, also provides support for a public health endangerment finding,” it said. “The evidence concerning how human-induced climate change may alter extreme weather events also clearly supports a finding of endangerment.”
There is a consensus in the scientific community that human activity, especially the burning of fossil fuels, is heating up the planet. This heating exacerbates extreme weather.
—Updated at 9:57 a.m. EST