Trump Gives EPA One Week to Decide on Abandoning Climate Pollution Regulation

image via New Scientist

February 12, 2025, 8:50 PM

• •Trump has ordered EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to decide by next week whether the agency could abandon its authority to regulate climate pollution under the Clean Air Act.
• •If Zeldin attempts to upend the 2009 scientific finding that underpins all greenhouse gas rules — known as the endangerment finding — he would risk being rebuked by the courts.
• •But if judges upheld EPA’s move to reverse the finding, it would accelerate Trump’s efforts to dismantle a host of climate rules enacted under President Joe Biden, while erecting legal hurdles for future administrations that want to curb climate pollution.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has one week to tell President Donald Trump whether the agency could abandon its authority to regulate climate pollution under the Clean Air Act. If Zeldin attempts to upend the 2009 scientific finding that underpins all greenhouse gas rules — known as the endangerment finding — he would risk being rebuked by the courts. But if judges upheld EPA’s move to reverse the finding, it would accelerate Trump’s efforts to dismantle a host of climate rules enacted under President Joe Biden, while erecting legal hurdles for future administrations that want to curb climate pollution.

Read original article