The Trump administration is planning to release a proposal Tuesday that would overturn a 16-year-old scientific finding that has allowed three administrations to regulate climate pollution.
The draft revision to the so-called endangerment finding for greenhouse gases marks a key move by President Donald Trump to weaken the government’s authority to curtail carbon emissions from the energy and automotive industries, among others. It will be paired with a proposal for rolling back climate rules for cars and trucks. Five people were granted anonymity to speak about internal discussions on the timing of the plan.
The proposal entered White House review in late June, and the Office of Management and Budget has held numerous meetings with industry, environmental groups and Indiana’s environmental protection agency.
The draft takes aim at a 2009 scientific finding that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare — the predicate for most climate regulations under the Clean Air Act. The proposal is expected to focus more on legal arguments about the original Obama-era finding than on the science of climate change.
Two people said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin would make the announcement while visiting an Indiana facility with links to the truck manufacturing supply chain. The transportation sector is the largest source of planet-heating gases in the U.S.
If the courts uphold Trump’s move to repeal the endangerment finding, it could be easier for EPA to quickly undo a host of Biden-era climate rules for power plants and oil and gas methane without replacing them with new standards.
