President Donald J. Trump and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin on Thursday revoked a key Obama-era scientific report that has served as the bedrock for much Federal regulation against climate change — including Phase 3 GHG regulations.
Zeldin and the White House announced earlier this week they would revoke the Endangerment Finding, the final action in a process they began last summer. Produced in 2009, the Endangerment Finding has allowed presidential administrations to regulate six greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride) across industries, and has served as the tentpole for medium- and heavy-duty truck GHG regulations for 15 years.
At Thursday’s announcement, President Trump called the move “the single largest deregulation action in American history.”
Zeldin added, “The Endangerment Finding has been the source of 16 years of consumer choice restrictions and trillions of dollars in hidden costs for Americans. Referred to by some as the ‘Holy Grail’ of the ‘climate change religion,’ the Endangerment Finding is now eliminated.”
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Zeldin has previously claimed rescinding the Endangerment Finding and resulting regulations would end $1 trillion or more "in hidden taxes on American businesses and families.”
In 2024, the EPA published its most recent Phase 3 GHG regulations supported by the rule, which were set to take effect in 2027 and would have required 25% of all Class 8 trucks sold in the U.S. to be zero-emission vehicles by 2032. The rule was opposed by many trucking groups, including the American Trucking Associations, Truckload Carriers Association, Clean Freight Coalition and more.
Removing the regulatory tentpole nullifies the EPA’s greenhouse gas (GHG) rules for medium-duty vehicles and heavy-duty vehicles and engines, from the first standards set in 2011 to those scheduled for implementation in the years ahead.
In finalizing this change, the EPA reports it carefully considered and reevaluated the legal foundation of the 2009 Endangerment Finding and the text of the Clean Air Act (CAA) in light of subsequent legal developments and court decisions. The agency concludes that Section 202(a) of the CAA does not provide statutory authority for EPA to prescribe motor vehicle and engine emission standards in the manner previously utilized, including for the purpose of addressing global climate change, and therefore has no legal basis for the Endangerment Finding and resulting regulations.
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The EPA states it firmly believes the 2009 Endangerment Finding made by the Obama Administration exceeded the agency’s authority to combat “air pollution” that harms public health and welfare, and that a policy decision of this magnitude, which carries sweeping economic and policy consequences, lies solely with Congress.
Thursday’s action is expected to be met with strong legal challenges from environmental groups, but Zeldin called it a return to “commonsense” policy.
“As EPA Administrator, I am proud to deliver the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history on behalf of American taxpayers and consumers,” he said. “As an added bonus, the off-cycle credit for the almost universally despised start-stop feature on vehicles has been removed.”
