The Trump administration is proposing to repeal the landmark finding that climate change poses a threat to the public as it seeks to undermine the nation’s climate rules.
Speaking in Indianapolis on Tuesday, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency is proposing to abandon the Obama-era finding.
The endangerment finding also underpins the nation’s climate regulations, including those governing the automobile sector.
In a press release, the EPA said that if finalized, the move will “repeal all resulting greenhouse gas emissions regulations for motor vehicles and engines.”
It also said the decision would lead to “the repeal of all greenhouse gas standards.”
Zeldin described the move as “the largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States.”
“This proposed rule is a proposal to eliminate the endangerment finding, to eliminate greenhouse gas standards, all the regulations that came out, including the electric vehicle mandates [and] all of the greenhouse gas standards for light-, medium- and heavy-duty [vehicles],” he said.
It comes amid a broader effort by the Trump administration to cut down on government regulations across the board, as well as to undermine efforts to combat climate change.
Climate change is primarily caused by human activity, especially the burning of fossil fuels. The phenomenon is exacerbating extreme weather around the world.
The move also comes during a summer plagued by repeated weather disasters including deadly flooding in Texas that killed more than 130 people, as well as floods in other parts of the country and extreme heat on the East Coast.
The EPA first made the endangerment finding in 2009 after the Massachusetts v. EPA court case. That case authorized the EPA to regulate planet-warming emissions under the Clean Air Act if the agency finds that they pose a threat to the public.
The EPA’s move on Tuesday is not final. The draft determination will need to go through a public comment period before the agency can finalize it.
