US EPA removes its core legal trigger for federal greenhouse-gas rules

The Trump administration announced the EPA has repealed its 2009 “endangerment finding” that greenhouse gases endanger human health, which had served as the legal basis for regulating GHGs under the Clean Air Act.
US EPA removes its core legal trigger for federal greenhouse-gas rules
Why it matters
This action strips the federal government of its primary existing legal mandate to directly regulate greenhouse-gas emissions unless Congress passes new authorizing legislation. Rules that relied on the endangerment finding (including power-sector emissions standards) face higher legal vulnerability and a likely enforcement/implementation reset. For emitters, the compliance center of gravity shifts toward state-level regimes and sector-specific permitting rather than a unified federal GHG framework, changing planning assumptions for multi-state operations and long-lived capital projects.
TOPICS

World & Politics Policy & Regulation Climate & Environment Climate Change Environmental Regulation

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