In 2007, the Supreme Court’s climate change ruling, Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, permitted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1992.
Following the Court’s directive and after extensive manipulation of the scientific process and the spread of disinformation by the mainstream media, Obama’s EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson issued the “Endangerment Finding” in 2009.
The agency decided that six key greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide, methane, and others) endanger both public health and welfare, laying the groundwork for hyper-regulation that restricted both prosperity and personal liberty. Subsequent rules promulgated by the EPA allowed the agency to essentially wage a “War on Fossil Fuels,” a “War on Appliances,” and a “War on Meat.” Biden’s ludicrous “Inflation Reduction Act” further fueled this inanity by codifying the “Green New Deal.”
Back in July, I noted that the EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin had planned to rescind these rules. The EPA will officially revoke the rules this week.
“On Thursday, President Trump will be joined by Administrator Lee Zeldin to formalize the rescission of the 2009 Obama-era endangerment finding,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday, referring to the EPA’s leader. “This will be the largest deregulatory action in American history, and it will save the American people $1.3 trillion in crushing regulations.”…The revocation of the endangerment finding will represent the Trump administration’s biggest broadside yet against efforts to combat climate change and would be a boon for the fossil fuel industry that has fought against climate regulations for years. The endangerment finding determined that greenhouse gases pose a risk to public health and welfare, giving EPA the authority to regulate them.
The agency will immediately end the treatment of the life-sustaining gas known as carbon dioxide, as if it were a toxic gas. This will give many of our industries a respite from the burdens imposed on them based on the pseudoscience of global warming.
President Donald Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin will “formalize the rescission of the 2009 Obama-era endangerment finding” at a White House ceremony, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.The action “will be the largest deregulatory action in American history, and it will save the American people $1.3 trillion in crushing regulations,” she said. The bulk of the savings will stem from reduced costs for new vehicles, with the EPA projecting average per vehicle savings of more than $2,400 for popular light-duty cars, SUVs and trucks, Leavitt said.
However, as Ed Morrissey of Hot Air notes, there is likely to be more lawfare and a stop at the U.S. Supreme Court before we see the end of this insanity.
Repealing the endangerment finding won’t be enough. The White House has to get into court to allow the Supreme Court to rethink Massachusetts v EPA, only without any technical distractions such as the APA. Otherwise, the EPA will remain stuck treating CO2 and other natural atmospheric gases as pollutants (as opposed to actual pollutants such as particulates), and nothing will change in the meantime. As I wrote at the time, Justice Antonin Scalia certainly gave plenty of reason for reconsideration of this kind of regulation-by-lawsuit that bypasses Congress..
The trip to the courts is likely to be quick. Meanwhile, sit back and enjoy the climate hysteria being offered by climate crisis hucksters.
Some climate damage could be irreversible if the planet heats up enough to cross “tipping points,” such as significant melting of ice sheets that can’t be reformed.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) criticized the administration’s planned move as a “corrupt giveaway to Big Oil.”“Who will pay the price for Donald Trump’s corruption? Quite literally every single community in this country,” Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor.
However, most Americans will enjoy more affordable cars and reliable, reasonably priced energy.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) is also looking at rolling back Biden-era Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards, reducing the required fleetwide average from 50.4 miles per gallon (as Biden mandated) to 34.5 mpg by 2031. As the Institute for Energy Research outlines, this change could “reduce average vehicle costs by $930 and save Americans $109 billion over five years by making vehicles more affordable.”
And so, after years on trial in the court of climate politics, carbon dioxide has finally been acquitted. The jury of common sense has spoken: the gas that makes plants grow, bubbles in our sodas, and keeps the planet alive is not a criminal but a crucial component of life itself. With the gavel dropped and the Endangerment Finding struck down, CO₂ walks free—exonerated, rehabilitated, and ready to breathe new life into American industry. Case closed.
.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY