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The Trump administration has reportedly drafted a plan to upend a foundational Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finding that allows the U.S. government to more easily regulate the use of greenhouse gases, which are a primary driver of the climate crisis.
The “Endangerment Finding,” drafted by the EPA in December 2009, states that greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide, methane and others) pose a serious danger to humans in the United States and across the world. It serves as the foundation of the agency’s ability to justify regulations on such gases when it comes to automobiles, power plants, and other industries that expel them in high amounts.
“The [EPA] Administrator finds that the current and projected concentrations of the six key well-mixed greenhouse gases…threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations,” the finding states.
But according to government sources speaking to several news outlets, the Trump administration is planning to update or rescind that declaration — a move that would have devastating consequences, environmental experts say.
“They’re trying to completely defang the Clean Air Act by saying, ‘Well, this stuff’s just not dangerous.’ That claim is just mind-bogglingly contrary to the evidence,” David Doniger, senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told The Washington Post.
“The White House is trying to turn back the clock and re-litigate both the science and the law,” environmental law professor Vicki Arroyo told The New York Times.
Trump officials have expressed a desire to undo the Endangerment Finding. In March, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin indicated plans to roll back the 16-year-old declaration, gleefully declaring that such a move would be “the most consequential day of deregulation in American history.”
Greenhouse gases trap sunlight entering the atmosphere, preventing enough radiation from being able to exit the Earth. Increases in the use of greenhouse gases have led to global warming, resulting in catastrophic disasters around the world — indeed, the effects of the climate crisis are becoming more noticeable, deadly and frequent, including unprecedented flooding, polar vortexes, wildfires, heatwaves and more.
Beyond creating a problem for the climate, fossil fuels are deadly on their own. A 2021 study estimated that the burning and inhalation of fossil fuels was responsible for nearly 1 in 5 deaths worldwide.
Without immediate serious action, the climate crisis is expected to get much worse, if current trends are any indicator.
A Copernicus Climate Change report earlier this year found that 2024 was the hottest year on record since 1850. A report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in March confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year, with each of the years over the past decade being observed as the 10 warmest ever, a feat that the group has never observed before.
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