EPA rescinds greenhouse gas endangerment finding, ending 17 years of climate regulation

The endangerment finding originated from a 2007 Supreme Court case, 🏛️Massachusetts v

EPA, where twelve states sued the EPA for refusing to regulate greenhouse gases

The Court ruled 5-4 that greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that greenhouse gases fit well within the Act's capacious definition of air pollutant The Court ordered the EPA to either make a scientific determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health, or provide a statutory reason for not making that determination The Court rejected the Bush administration's argument that the EPA could refuse to regulate based on policy preferences.

On Dec. 7, 2009, EPA Administrator LJLisa Jackson signed the endangerment finding after a nearly two-year review process

The EPA analyzed close to 200 pages of scientific evidence and received more than 380,000 public comments during two public hearings in Arlington, 🏛️Virginia and Seattle, 🌲Washington

The finding determined that six greenhouse gases in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations Those gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride The finding didn't impose any regulations itself, but it provided the legal prerequisite for the EPA to issue emissions standards.

The finding survived multiple legal challenges over 15 years

Fossil fuel companies and industry groups filed ten petitions for reconsideration between 2009 and 2010, which the EPA denied in July 2010

The U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C Circuit upheld the finding unanimously in June 2012 The Supreme Court declined to hear industry challenges in 2013 Between 2017 and 2019, industry groups filed four more petitions asking the EPA to reconsider, reopen, or repeal the finding The EPA under the Trump administration denied those petitions in April 2022.

On Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump's first day in office, he signed Executive Order 14154 directing the EPA to review the endangerment finding within 30 days and consider whether it should be rescinded

On Feb. 19, 2025, EPA Administrator LZLee Zeldin sent a nine-page memo to the White House Office of Management and Budget recommending that the finding be reversed

On March 12, 2025, Zeldin announced what he called the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen, stating that the EPA would formally reconsider the 2009 finding On July 29, 2025, Zeldin proposed repealing the finding at a campaign event at a truck dealership in 🏎️Indiana.

The rescission eliminates all greenhouse gas emission standards that relied on the endangerment finding as their legal basis

This includes vehicle emissions standards for model years 2012 through 2027 and beyond

It removes the Clean Power Plan rules for power plants It eliminates methane regulations for oil and gas operations It cancels aircraft emission standards The EPA claims the rescission will save consumers $1.3 trillion over the lifetime of affected vehicles and reduce new vehicle costs by $2,400 per unit Environmental groups dispute these figures and argue the rescission ignores the health costs of increased air pollution.

The rescission relies on two recent Supreme Court decisions that constrained agency authority

In Loper Bright v

Raimondo, decided in June 2024, the Supreme Court overturned the Chevron doctrine that had required courts to defer to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes In ⛰️West Virginia v EPA, decided in June 2022, the Court established the major questions doctrine, which requires clear congressional authorization for regulations with major economic or political significance The EPA argues these cases mean the agency no longer has authority to regulate greenhouse gases without explicit direction from Congress Critics say these cases don't override the Supreme Court's 2007 🏛️Massachusetts v EPA decision, which found that greenhouse gases are pollutants the EPA must regulate under the Clean Air Act.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released a comprehensive review in September 2025 at the EPA's request during the public comment period

The report found that the 2009 endangerment finding was accurate, has stood the test of time, and is now reinforced by even stronger evidence

The report stated that the evidence for current and future harm to human health and welfare created by human-caused greenhouse gases is beyond scientific dispute The report noted that much of the understanding of climate change that was uncertain or tentative in 2009 has now been resolved by scientific research The EPA announced the rescission four months after this scientific review concluded the endangerment finding should stand.