The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday said it would “formally reconsider” a landmark 2009 finding by the agency that greenhouse gases are a danger to public health.
The announcement was one of a flurry of actions by the EPA to roll back environmental regulations, including rules on pollution from coal-fired power plants and electric vehicles.
“We are driving a dagger through the heart of the climate-change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal.
Long a basis for U.S. action to fight climate change, the EPA’s “endangerment finding” found that planet-warming greenhouse gasses endanger public health and welfare. The Obama-era determination under the Clean Air Act underlies the legal arguments for a slew of climate regulations for vehicles and other sources of pollution.
“After 16 years, EPA will formally reconsider the Endangerment Finding,” Zeldin said in a statement on Wednesday. “The Trump Administration will not sacrifice national prosperity, energy security, and the freedom of our people for an agenda that throttles our industries, our mobility, and our consumer choice while benefiting adversaries overseas.”
Environmentalists immediately criticized the policy shift and suggested it will face legal challenges.
“In the face of overwhelming science, it’s impossible to think that the EPA could develop a contradictory finding that would stand up in court,” said David Doniger, a climate expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
contributed to this report.
