The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its proposal to pull the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which served as the basis for more than $1 trillion in regulations.
The Endangerment Finding is the legal policy used by the Obama and Biden administrations that regulated emissions on new vehicles and engines. Updated scientific information challenges the policy, the agency said. Should the proposal move forward, it would repeal “all resulting greenhouse gas emissions regulations for motor vehicles and engines, thereby reinstating consumer choice and giving Americans the ability to purchase a safe and affordable car for their family while decreasing the cost of living on all products that trucks deliver,” a news release explains.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the proposal ends “sixteen years of uncertainty for automakers and American consumers.”
“In our work so far, many stakeholders have told me that the Obama and Biden EPAs twisted the law, ignored precedent, and warped science to achieve their preferred ends and stick American families with hundreds of billions of dollars in hidden taxes every single year,” he said. “We heard loud and clear the concern that EPA’s GHG emissions standards themselves, not carbon dioxide which the Finding never assessed independently, was the real threat to Americans’ livelihoods. If finalized, rescinding the Endangerment Finding and resulting regulations would end $1 trillion or more in hidden taxes on American businesses and families.”
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the announcement is a “monumental step toward returning to commonsense policies that expand access to affordable, reliable, secure energy and improve quality of life for all Americans.”
Last month, the EPA moved to repeal climate and pollution regulations pertaining to U.S. power plants.
