| | | EPA set to strike down legal foundation that underpins all major climate regulations - reports
Jul. 26, 2025 8:15 PM ET
By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor
The Environmental Protection Agency is just days away from proposing the U.S. reverse the scientific determination that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health, overturning the legal foundation that has been the cornerstone of all policies aimed at limiting emissions and tackling climate change, The Washington Post and other sources reported this week.
The landmark 2009 Endangerment Finding said six greenhouse gasses, including carbon dioxide and methane, generated by human activity found in the atmosphere threaten public health and welfare, a determination that was based on a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that affirmed greenhouse gases are pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
Reversal of the endangerment finding would gut one of the most consequential federal standards that had enabled the U.S. government to fight climate change by regulating vehicles, industries, and energy-producing facilities, which would allow the EPA to more easily undo major regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
The EPA also is looking to walk back limits on tailpipe emissions imposed under the Biden administration, and the agency plans to argue that imposing these climate regulations on automakers specifically would harm humans by causing higher prices and reducing consumer choice, The New York Times reported.
The EPA reportedly will argue that it does not have the legal authority to take such action to reduce the effects of climate change. |
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