US President Donald Trump’s administration is expected to revoke an Obama-era scientific conclusion this week that serves as the legal basis for federal regulation of greenhouse gases, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Monday.
Repealing the so-called “danger finding”—a scientific opinion that greenhouse gas emissions pose a risk to human health—would remove the legal basis for broader regulation of these emissions. In practice, it would represent the broadest rollback in climate policy under Trump.
O Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the repeal is expected to be published later this week and quoted EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin as saying that the measure would represent “the largest act of deregulation in United States history.”
Take advantage of the stock market rise!
The Trump administration has been working on this repeal for more than a year. The proposal was sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review on January 7. Released last year, it received more than half a million comments from the public.
According to government officials interviewed by Wall Street Journalthe repeal would eliminate regulatory requirements to measure, report, certify and comply with federal greenhouse gas emission standards for cars, but would not apply to stationary sources such as power plants.
An EPA spokesperson said the hazard finding was used by the Obama and Biden administrations to “justify trillions of dollars in greenhouse gas regulations covering new vehicles and engines.”
Continues after advertising
On January 30, a federal court ruled that the Department of Energy violated the law by forming a climate science advisory group whose report was intended to support the EPA’s reversal of the hazard finding, which could make the final rule vulnerable to court challenges.
Although many industrial groups support the relaxation of emission standards for vehicles, part of the sector has been reluctant to publicly express support for overturning the danger finding, given the legal and regulatory uncertainty that the measure may generate.
Last month, the American Petroleum Institute declared support for the repeal in the vehicle case, but argued that the finding be maintained for stationary sources — which would force the EPA to regulate methane, a potent greenhouse gas emitted by the oil and gas sector.
