The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced earlier this week that it intends to rescind the 2009 declaration that has served as the basis for the government’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
Known as the Endangerment Finding, this 2009 declaration states that the “current and projected concentrations” of greenhouse gases “threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations.”
This stemmed from a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that greenhouse gas are a category of air pollutant covered by the Clean Air Act, opening the door for the EPA to determine under section 202(a) if they can reasonably be understood to pose a threat to “public health of welfare.”
By repealing the agency’s prior declaration, the federal government would have significantly less authority to promulgate and enforce climate-related regulations.
“There are people who, in the name of climate change, are willing to bankrupt the country,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said on a podcast Tuesday.
“They created this endangerment finding and then they are able to put all these regulations on vehicles, on airplanes, on stationary sources, to basically regulate out of existence, in many cases, a lot of segments of our economy,” he continued. “And it cost Americans a lot of money.”
Repealing this declaration is likely to take some time, as the EPA’s proposal will be required to go through a lengthy review process, as well as a public comment period.
The idea of reworking the endangerment finding was first brought up by Zeldin earlier this year as part of a broader effort to roll back environmental regulations at the federal level.
“We are driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age,’’ Zeldin said in a Wall Street Journal piece published this past spring.
“Our actions will also reignite American manufacturing, spreading economic benefits to communities,” he wrote. “Energy dominance stands at the center of America’s resurgence.”
According to the New York Times, reworking the Endangerment Finding would not by itself repeal existing regulations, but it would create a roadblock for future administrations looking to impose barriers related to greenhouse gas emissions.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) issued a statement Tuesday in response to the EPA’s announcement that it intends to reverse the Endangerment Finding.
“This proposal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency undercuts more than a decade’s worth of progress to protect the health of our planet and our people,” Gov. Mills wrote.
“Maine is already contending with extreme weather and flooding that threatens our environment, public health, and economy,” she said. “Allowing unchecked greenhouse gas emissions will only exacerbate these challenges and leave us susceptible to dangerous pollution from other states carried here by prevailing winds.”
“As this new rule undergoes the formal public process, my Administration will remain steadfast in our commitment to protect the health of Maine people and our clean air and water, which are the foundation of our economy,” said Mills.
