Trump Admin Advances Climate Reg Overhaul

July 02, 2025

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by Sean Reilly (Politico Pro Climatewire) The move opens the door to revise a suite of rules clamping down on heat-trapping emissions, especially from the industrial and transportation sectors. -- EPA has taken its first public step toward revisiting the landmark 2009 determination that underpins most of the agency's climate regulations.

The move marks an introductory and pivotal step for the Trump administration to rewrite the foundation of a suite of rules that aim to clamp down on heat-trapping emissions, especially from the industrial and transportation sectors.

EPA on Monday sent the proposed rule, titled “Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding and Motor Vehicle Reconsideration,” to the White House regulations office for a routine review, according to a notice posted on a government tracking website.

While the proposal’s contents were not made public, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin had targeted the endangerment finding in a list of planned regulatory rollbacks released in March.

At a congressional hearing in May, he suggested that the original Obama-era finding was flawed because it failed to consider the harm done by each of the half-dozen greenhouse gases deemed dangerous because they contribute to global climate change. READ MORE

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Excerpt from Aiken Gump: EPA faces scientific and legal barriers to challenging the endangerment finding.

First, scientific data on the impacts of GHGs on climate change has only increased since the original 2009 finding. Scientists can more readily link impacts attributable to anthropogenic climate change and the relative contributions of different sources for those impacts, undermining arguments that emissions reductions in one jurisdiction will not meaningfully “contribute” to addressing global climate change.⁹

Second, any decision against the findings would be immediately challenged in court. The findings have been upheld against various legal challenges over the years, with the Supreme Court declining to hear challenges to it as recently as December 11, 2023.¹⁰

Nevertheless, recent landmark decisions in the Supreme Court have demonstrated a willingness to deviate from precedent in matters of environmental regulations and otherwise. If challenged, these potential legal proceedings will present opportunities for engagement for environmental and industry groups to file amicus briefs or join likely challenges from Democratic states. READ MORE

Excerpt from Policy Integrity: EPA made the 2009 Endangerment Finding following the Supreme Court’s determinations that greenhouse gases are “air pollutants” under the Clean Air Act. The Supreme Court further clarified that “[i]f EPA makes a finding of endangerment, the Clean Air Act requires the agency to regulate emissions of the deleterious pollutant from new motor vehicles.” Consistent with this obligation, after making the 2009 Endangerment Finding, EPA then proceeded to issue regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, and later from power plants, landfills, aircraft, and the oil and gas sector. Many of EPA’s greenhouse gas regulations, alongside the 2009 Endangerment Finding itself, are now in the crosshairs of EPA’s reconsideration.

EPA’s March 2025 press release emphasized that when EPA made the Endangerment Finding in 2009, the agency did not consider the costs of future regulations that would limit emissions. That’s true—but it is not evidence that regulatory costs went unconsidered. To the contrary, EPA considered regulatory costs when the relevant statutory provisions indicated they should be considered: at the time it issued the various regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions from particular sectors. As explained in this issue brief, this approach is required by the law and best practice.

The Clean Air Act requires EPA to assess regulatory costs when setting emission standards, not when making an endangerment finding that underlies the regulations. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA first makes a scientific judgment regarding whether certain emissions “endanger public health or welfare” (a.k.a., an endangerment finding). For emissions meeting that criterion, EPA then separately issues emission standards. The courts have made clear that cost is considered only at the stage of issuing specific standards to limit emissions. The plain text of the Clean Air Act compels this approach, and Supreme Court case law further affirms this understanding of the text and appropriate practice. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico Pro: The EPA’s proposal to reconsider its 16-year-old bedrock finding on the dangers of greenhouse gases is now in the White House’s hands — a move that sets the stage for a broad attack on a wide range of federal climate regulations.

Details on the proposal are still unclear, but it is expected to significantly weaken — if not revoke outright — the agency’s 2009 declaration that greenhouse gases endanger human health. That in turn would free EPA from the legal obligation to regulate climate pollution from most sources, including power plants, cars and trucks, and virtually any other source.

The EPA submitted its proposal (Reg. 2060-AW71) to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review on Monday, according to the agency’s website.

The rule is styled as "Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding and Motor Vehicle Reconsideration Rule" — indicating it may revoke the agency's tailpipe emissions standards for vehicles at the same time it undoes the endangerment finding. That would free automakers from having to comply with Biden-era rules that Republicans have argued amounted to a de facto electric vehicle mandate. Restoring auto industry jobs through deregulation is a main pillar of Administrator Lee Zeldin's EPA agenda . READ MORE

Excerpt from Inside EPA: EPA has sent to the White House for final review a proposed rule walking back the landmark GHG endangerment finding and vehicle emissions standards -- confirming expectations that the agency would combine its endangerment finding reconsideration with a vehicle rule repeal even as the regulation’s exact scope remains unclear. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) received the proposal, titled “Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding and Motor Vehicle Reconsideration Rule,” on June 30. EPA’s planned rollback of the greenhouse gas endangerment... READ MORE