The Environmental Protection Agency has reversed landmark environmental laws made to curtail greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonize pollution sources, calling the Obama- and Biden-era motions “illegal.”
The agency rescinded “Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases,” which established in 2009 that greenhouse gases are a threat to public health, under the Clean Air Act, a law concerned with hazardous emissions from all sources — both vehicles and buildings.
“This decision will drive up costs for businesses and consumers and weaken our economy,” said Sandra Purohit, federal advocacy director for E2. “It upends nearly two decades of common sense policy. It injects huge uncertainty into the marketplace. It discourages capital investment and innovation in the auto industry. And it ignores the economic costs of extreme weather that’s only made worse by rising GHG pollution – including disaster clean-up, higher insurance premiums, lost productivity and supply chain disruption.”
By removing the Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, the EPA no longer recognizes greenhouse gas emissions as a threat to public health. The U.S. solar industry’s primary mission has been decarbonizing the grid through photovoltaic electrification.
The EPA called this “the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history,” in a press release published on Thursday. The release rationalizes these deregulations by claiming the laws were harming the automotive industry, and without them, claims that vehicle costs will lower and U.S. taxpayers will save $1.3 trillion.
“The Endangerment Finding has been the source of 16 years of consumer choice restrictions and trillions of dollars in hidden costs for Americans,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. “Referred to by some as the ‘Holy Grail’ of the ‘climate change religion,’ the Endangerment Finding is now eliminated. The Trump EPA is strictly following the letter of the law, returning common sense to policy, delivering consumer choice to Americans and advancing the American Dream.”
More than 17 million electric vehicles were purchased globally in 2024, with 1.5 million EVs bought in the United States alone, according to a report published by the International Energy Agency. The U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center also acknowledges that while EVs may have a higher purchasing cost than gas-powered vehicles, EV charging costs and state and utility incentives can save owners money over time. Using renewable energy sources like solar to power EVs can reduce that cost further.
Transportation was responsible for more than one-third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions as of 2022, according to the “Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks” report, published by the EPA.
This deregulation is the latest in a series of actions distancing the United States from policies and organizations addressing climate change. Last month, the Trump administration withdrew the United States from more than 60 international organizations, including 12 concerned with renewable energy, climate change and environmental missions.
