Trump Administration Revokes Key Climate Change Finding, Faces Legal Challenges
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration on Wednesday moved to dismantle a cornerstone of U.S. Climate policy, finalizing plans to revoke the 2009 “endangerment finding” that established the legal basis for regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. The decision, announced as President Trump signed an executive order aimed at bolstering the coal industry, has sparked immediate condemnation from environmental groups and Democratic lawmakers, who have vowed to challenge the rollback in court.
The move effectively eliminates the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) justification for a wide range of climate regulations, including those governing vehicle emissions and power plant pollution. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is expected to formally finalize the repeal on Thursday, alongside President Trump, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island denounced the decision as “corruption, plain and simple,” accusing the EPA of being “infiltrated by the corrupt fossil fuel industry” and acting as a “weapon of the fossil fuel polluters.”
The administration defends its actions by arguing that deregulation will protect the economy and lower energy costs. Officials claim the rollback will save Americans $1.3 trillion, though the methodology behind this figure remains unexplained. An EPA spokesperson stated the endangerment finding had been used to “justify trillions of dollars of greenhouse gas regulations covering new vehicles and engines.”
Experts warn that dismantling the endangerment finding could lead to trillions of dollars in climate damages and increased healthcare costs. The decision represents a more radical departure from climate action than previous efforts to weaken regulations during Trump’s first term, with the administration now asserting the EPA never possessed the authority to write such rules in the first place.
Environmental nonprofits, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice, and the Sierra Club, have pledged to file litigation challenging the repeal. “We’re going to be taking this fight to the courts, and we are going to win,” said Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Senator Whitehouse promised to raise the issue in the Senate, while Representative Paul Tonko of New York said he would do the same in the House of Representatives. The move comes after reports that Trump reportedly requested $1 billion from oil executives during the 2024 campaign, promising to scrap environmental rules if re-elected.
“Zeldin is saying to the fossil fuel industry, you now are gonna get what you paid for,” Markey stated at a rally Wednesday.
The decision has also drawn concern from younger generations. Talia Brandt, a 10-year-old Maryland resident and member of Moms Clean Air Force, expressed her fear, stating, “We shouldn’t have to be here fighting for our future.”
The endangerment finding, based on extensive peer-reviewed research, has been repeatedly upheld in federal courts. Joseph Goffman, former assistant administrator of EPA’s office of air and radiation, emphasized that the science has only strengthened since the finding was originally codified. “Science did not change when Donald Trump was inaugurated,” Goffman said. “What did change was the arrival of the new EPA management, determined to destroy the agency’s public health and environmental mission.”
Alongside the rollback of the endangerment finding, President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday directing the Department of Defense to procure more power from coal, the most polluting fossil fuel. He was also awarded the inaugural “Undisputed Champion of Coal” title by the Washington Coal Club, a pro-coal industry organization.
The coal industry contributed $3.5 million to efforts to elect Trump in 2024. Reports suggest that the administration’s efforts to keep aging coal plants open could lead to increased energy bills nationwide.
Representative Markey believes the administration’s actions will ultimately backfire, bringing climate change back to the forefront of American politics. “This is going to put climate change right back on the front burner of American politics,” he said. “They’re really going to regret what they’re doing, because the Republicans are going to pay a big political price.”
Manuel Salgado, federal research manager at We Act for Environmental Justice, argued that the rollback would disproportionately harm vulnerable communities. “These modern-day robber barons would gladly add to their already obscene piles of wealth by making us less safe from climate change,” he said. “We will not let this continue to happen.”
