The Environmental Protection Agency moved to finalize the revocation of a critical scientific finding that undergirds the U.S. government’s climate regulations and ability to regulate greenhouse gases, the agency told CNBC.
The EPA took a key step to ax the 2009 “endangerment finding” over the weekend by submitting the proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget, the EPA press office told CNBC. The agency initially proposed rescinding it in July last year.
“This week at the White House, President Trump will be taking the most significant deregulatory actions in history to further unleash American energy dominance and drive down costs,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in an email to CNBC.
The revocation of the endangerment finding would represent the Trump administration’s biggest broadside yet against efforts to combat climate change and would be a boon for the fossil fuel industry that has fought against climate regulations for years. The endangerment finding determined that greenhouse gases pose a risk to public health and welfare, giving EPA the authority to regulate them.
Effectively, the EPA’s move would immediately wipe away regulations on emissions from the country’s highest polluting sector in transportation.
