Released July 30, 2025 | SUGAR LAND
en
Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Lee Zeldin, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, on Tuesday fulfilled his pledge to help implement President Donald Trump's "energy dominance" agenda by announcing a draft rule to rescind the agency's own greenhouse gas "endangerment" finding, first issued in 2009, which has been the basis for a significant amount of U.S. energy and environmental regulation for 16 years.
The agency proposed to rescind all greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for light-duty, medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles and engines under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act. Trump has long criticized those vehicle regulations as effectively forcing people to buy electric cars and trucks.
The agency claimed that its proposal, if finalized, would "undo the underpinning of $1 trillion in costly (automotive) regulations (and) save more than $54 billion annually." In a statement, the EPA said that the proposal, if it is finalized and survives almost-certain legal challenges, would "repeal all greenhouse gas emissions regulations for motor vehicles and engines" that were based on the EPA's 2009 endangerment finding, in which it concluded that greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) endangered the health of current and future generations.
That EPA finding, which followed a U.S. Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, was made under a section of the Clean Air Act that applied to transportation, not stationary sources like power plants. The EPA under former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden used that endangerment finding to justify regulation of power plant GHG emissions as well as vehicular emissions, arguing that both contributed to the public's health risks posed by global warming.
In a statement accompanying the 302-page draft rule, the EPA said the endangerment finding was "the legal prerequisite used by the Obama and Biden administrations to regulate emissions from new motor vehicles and new motor vehicle engines. Absent this finding, EPA would lack statutory authority under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act to prescribe standards for greenhouse gas emissions."
The EPA said the draft rule sought to "reinstate consumer choice and (give) Americans the ability to purchase a safe and affordable car for their family while decreasing the cost of living on all products that trucks deliver."
The transportation sector is the biggest emitter of GHGs, accounting for about 28% of U.S. emissions, followed by the electric power sector (25%) and industry (23%), according to an EPA report on GHG emissions for 2022 that was last updated in March 2025.
The federal government has long regulated vehicle tailpipe emissions, but Obama's attempt to use the endangerment finding to regulate power plant GHG emissions was the first time that had been attempted. Over the last 16 years, the issue has been extensively litigated, with the Supreme Court ruling against Obama, Trump and Biden. No president, it seemed, has been able to thread the power plant GHG needle.
The EPA announced its proposal Tuesday at a press event at an Indianapolis auto dealership. Zeldin was accompanied by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Indiana Governor Mike Braun, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, U.S. Representative Jim Baird (R-Indiana), Indiana Secretary of Energy and Natural Resources Suzanne Jaworowski, and a representative of the Indiana Motor Truck Association.
"With this proposal, the Trump EPA is proposing to end sixteen years of uncertainty for automakers and American consumers," Zeldin said. "In our work so far, many stakeholders have told me that the Obama and Biden EPAs twisted the law, ignored precedent and warped science to achieve their preferred ends and stick American families with hundreds of billions of dollars in hidden taxes every single year."
"We heard loud and clear the concern that EPA's GHG emissions standards themselves, not carbon dioxide which the (endangerment) finding never assessed independently, was the real threat to Americans' livelihoods. If finalized, rescinding that endangerment finding and resulting regulations would end $1 trillion or more in hidden taxes on American businesses and families."
Repeal of this finding has long been a goal of Trump and conservative commentators, who have argued that, at least as it applied to cars and trucks, it limited consumer choice and drove up costs.
Trump reportedly considered such a step in his first administration, but decided against it. Upon regaining the presidency, Trump instructed the EPA to review, revise and potentially repeal the agency's finding that GHG emissions were harmful. For more on that, see January 22, 2025, article - Far-Reaching Executive Actions on Energy Pour Out of White House.
Several weeks after that executive order, the EPA announced its intention to reconsider 31 energy and environmental rules from its predecessors. The EPA endangerment finding was one of those rules. For more on that, see March 14, 2025, article - EPA Will Reconsider 31 Energy and Environmental Rules from Trump's Predecessors. In announcing its intention to review those rules this past March, Zeldin said this was "the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen. We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more."
Although critics feared repealing the endangerment finding would be part of the Trump administration's attempt to loosen GHG emissions standards for stationary sources such as power plants, stationary sources were scarcely mentioned in the 302-page draft rule released Tuesday. Still, if the Trump administration succeeds at rescinding the endangerment finding, that action could be used to justify rolling back power plant GHG emissions rules.
The draft rule will be published in the coming days in the Federal Register. Public comments will be received until September 21. Reportedly, the Trump administration wants to have the rule finalized by the end of 2025. Litigation is a near-certainty.
But there may be at least one more wrinkle to this legal saga. In 2022, as Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, it for the first time specifically identified CO2 as a pollutant that was subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act. For more on that, see August 24, 2022, article - U.S. Congress Defines CO2 as Pollutant.
Could the current Congress find a way to undo that definition? In all likelihood, yes, in the same way it has clawed back most of the federal funding for renewable energy, at Trump's insistence. So that congressional definition in 2022 will probably turn out to be little more than a speed bump on the way to the president's preferred future featuring more fossil fuels.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
The agency proposed to rescind all greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for light-duty, medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles and engines under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act. Trump has long criticized those vehicle regulations as effectively forcing people to buy electric cars and trucks.
The agency claimed that its proposal, if finalized, would "undo the underpinning of $1 trillion in costly (automotive) regulations (and) save more than $54 billion annually." In a statement, the EPA said that the proposal, if it is finalized and survives almost-certain legal challenges, would "repeal all greenhouse gas emissions regulations for motor vehicles and engines" that were based on the EPA's 2009 endangerment finding, in which it concluded that greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) endangered the health of current and future generations.
That EPA finding, which followed a U.S. Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, was made under a section of the Clean Air Act that applied to transportation, not stationary sources like power plants. The EPA under former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden used that endangerment finding to justify regulation of power plant GHG emissions as well as vehicular emissions, arguing that both contributed to the public's health risks posed by global warming.
In a statement accompanying the 302-page draft rule, the EPA said the endangerment finding was "the legal prerequisite used by the Obama and Biden administrations to regulate emissions from new motor vehicles and new motor vehicle engines. Absent this finding, EPA would lack statutory authority under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act to prescribe standards for greenhouse gas emissions."
The EPA said the draft rule sought to "reinstate consumer choice and (give) Americans the ability to purchase a safe and affordable car for their family while decreasing the cost of living on all products that trucks deliver."
The transportation sector is the biggest emitter of GHGs, accounting for about 28% of U.S. emissions, followed by the electric power sector (25%) and industry (23%), according to an EPA report on GHG emissions for 2022 that was last updated in March 2025.
The federal government has long regulated vehicle tailpipe emissions, but Obama's attempt to use the endangerment finding to regulate power plant GHG emissions was the first time that had been attempted. Over the last 16 years, the issue has been extensively litigated, with the Supreme Court ruling against Obama, Trump and Biden. No president, it seemed, has been able to thread the power plant GHG needle.
The EPA announced its proposal Tuesday at a press event at an Indianapolis auto dealership. Zeldin was accompanied by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Indiana Governor Mike Braun, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, U.S. Representative Jim Baird (R-Indiana), Indiana Secretary of Energy and Natural Resources Suzanne Jaworowski, and a representative of the Indiana Motor Truck Association.
"With this proposal, the Trump EPA is proposing to end sixteen years of uncertainty for automakers and American consumers," Zeldin said. "In our work so far, many stakeholders have told me that the Obama and Biden EPAs twisted the law, ignored precedent and warped science to achieve their preferred ends and stick American families with hundreds of billions of dollars in hidden taxes every single year."
"We heard loud and clear the concern that EPA's GHG emissions standards themselves, not carbon dioxide which the (endangerment) finding never assessed independently, was the real threat to Americans' livelihoods. If finalized, rescinding that endangerment finding and resulting regulations would end $1 trillion or more in hidden taxes on American businesses and families."
Repeal of this finding has long been a goal of Trump and conservative commentators, who have argued that, at least as it applied to cars and trucks, it limited consumer choice and drove up costs.
Trump reportedly considered such a step in his first administration, but decided against it. Upon regaining the presidency, Trump instructed the EPA to review, revise and potentially repeal the agency's finding that GHG emissions were harmful. For more on that, see January 22, 2025, article - Far-Reaching Executive Actions on Energy Pour Out of White House.
Several weeks after that executive order, the EPA announced its intention to reconsider 31 energy and environmental rules from its predecessors. The EPA endangerment finding was one of those rules. For more on that, see March 14, 2025, article - EPA Will Reconsider 31 Energy and Environmental Rules from Trump's Predecessors. In announcing its intention to review those rules this past March, Zeldin said this was "the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen. We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more."
Although critics feared repealing the endangerment finding would be part of the Trump administration's attempt to loosen GHG emissions standards for stationary sources such as power plants, stationary sources were scarcely mentioned in the 302-page draft rule released Tuesday. Still, if the Trump administration succeeds at rescinding the endangerment finding, that action could be used to justify rolling back power plant GHG emissions rules.
The draft rule will be published in the coming days in the Federal Register. Public comments will be received until September 21. Reportedly, the Trump administration wants to have the rule finalized by the end of 2025. Litigation is a near-certainty.
But there may be at least one more wrinkle to this legal saga. In 2022, as Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, it for the first time specifically identified CO2 as a pollutant that was subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act. For more on that, see August 24, 2022, article - U.S. Congress Defines CO2 as Pollutant.
Could the current Congress find a way to undo that definition? In all likelihood, yes, in the same way it has clawed back most of the federal funding for renewable energy, at Trump's insistence. So that congressional definition in 2022 will probably turn out to be little more than a speed bump on the way to the president's preferred future featuring more fossil fuels.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
