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President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to undo a key Obama-era climate determination that has long served as the legal foundation for federal greenhouse gas regulations, according to reporting published Monday.
The 2009 “endangerment finding,” adopted during the Obama administration, identified six greenhouse gases as posing “a threat to public health and welfare.” That conclusion enabled the Environmental Protection Agency to impose wide-ranging climate rules, including stricter vehicle fuel-economy standards and limits on power-plant emissions, according to The Wall Street Journal.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin praised the planned reversal, calling it a sweeping reduction of federal regulation. “This amounts to the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States,” Zeldin told the Journal.
The Journal reported that the final rule is expected to be released later this week and would eliminate federal requirements to measure, report, certify and comply with greenhouse gas emission standards for motor vehicles. The changes would not take effect immediately for power plants or oil and gas facilities.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the administration’s focus is on expanding energy production rather than restricting it.
“More energy drives human flourishing,” Burgum told the outlet. “Energy abundance is the thing that we have to focus on, not regulating certain forms of energy out.”
President Trump is expected to appear at the White House on Wednesday with Zeldin and Energy Secretary Chris Wright to announce a new initiative directing the Department of War to purchase electricity from coal-fired power plants, the Journal reported.
The Washington Coal Club is also expected to name President Trump the “Undisputed Champion of Coal” during the event.
President Trump has long criticized climate regulations and the scientific consensus on global warming. During his first term, he withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement in 2017.
More recently, the president has pointed to severe winter weather as evidence against climate warnings.
“Record Cold Wave expected to hit 40 States. Rarely seen anything like it before,” President Trump wrote on social media last month. “Could the Environmental Insurrectionists please explain — WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???”
