The Colorado Springs Gazette ran an Associated Press story reporting that President Trump’s EPA finalized a rule rescinding the 2009 “endangerment finding,” the government declaration that said carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. That 2009 finding has been the central legal foundation for most federal climate regulations under the Clean Air Act.
In the article, Trump calls this move “the single largest deregulatory action” in U.S. history (it is), while EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin labels the endangerment finding “the Holy Grail” of federal regulatory overreach (it is). The piece also notes legal challenges are expected, because rolling up a foundational finding could unravel greenhouse gas standards for vehicles and potentially broader stationary-source rules (good – life can start getting more affordable).
The story walks through the legal and political stakes: the Supreme Court’s 2007 Massachusetts v. EPA decision recognized greenhouse gases as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act, and courts have repeatedly rejected challenges to the endangerment finding since. Environmental groups call the repeal a historic attack on federal authority to address climate change, while the administration argues the finding fueled costly regulations that hurt affordability and consumer choice.
The Bullet Point Brief
- The EPA just pulled the pin on the 2009 endangerment finding, the legal keystone for a whole archway of federal climate rules. Knock out the keystone and, yes, the whole structure starts wobbling.
- Trump and Zeldin are not hiding the ball: they frame this as rolling back massive regulatory cost, especially tied to vehicles, pricing, and what they describe as pressure toward electric vehicles.
- The article says legal challenges are basically guaranteed, and experts predict more havoc than the typical environmental rollback because this targets the underlying authority, not just one rule.
- The piece underscores the legal history: after the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision, courts have consistently upheld the endangerment finding, including a more recent D.C. Circuit decision cited in the story.
- On top of the big repeal, EPA also says it will propose a two-year delay to a Biden-era rule limiting greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks, with the administration arguing it better reflects slower EV sales and consumer choice.
My Bottom Line
There is no doubt the courts will try to block this, because that is what happens now. Big moves land, activists sue, states sue, industry sues (lawyers make money – lots and lots of money), and the rest of us wait around for years while the people with the most attorneys win the most time. So yes, we are a long way from knowing whether this produces Trump’s intended outcomes in the real world.
Now, let me say this clearly: I am not a climate denier. I believe humanity has had an impact on the climate. I also believe my God is bigger than this planet, and I am not buying the climate-alarmist religion where every policy preference gets baptized as “science” and every dissenting voter gets treated like a heretic.
Because here’s the part the article makes impossible to ignore. This “endangerment finding” has been the legal hammer behind a mountain of regulation. And some folks absolutely love that hammer, because it lets them tell you how to live, what to drive, what to build, what to permit, what to pay, and what you are allowed to choose. When you give people a regulatory hammer, everything looks like a nail, including your paycheck.
If you are tired of being beat up by regulation, elected officials should remove the hammer. That is exactly what the Trump administration is trying to do here, and I am okay with it. Not because I do not care about the planet. Because I am tired of being regulated to death by environmental extremists who confuse control with stewardship. It is the right thing to be good stewards. It is the wrong thing to use climate alarmism as an excuse to exert dominion over people who do not believe as you do.
And let’s be honest: in Colorado, you can already see the next move coming. More lawsuits, more headlines, more fundraising, more finger-wagging, and more pain for regular families who just want to afford their lives. The great suburban normie is going to have to decide, at some point, whether they want a functional economy and a balanced approach, or a permanent regulatory crusade where you are always the one paying the penance.
Source: Colorado Springs Gazette
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