The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed repealing greenhouse gas emissions regulations for motor vehicles.
The EPA announced its proposal at a car dealership in Indiana to rescind the 2009 Endangerment Finding under the Clean Air Act. The finding stated that emissions from new motor vehicles contributed to greenhouse gas pollution and threatened public health and welfare. It followed the Supreme Court’s ruling from Massachusetts v. EPA, which claimed greenhouse gases are air pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act and the EPA needed to determine if the emissions from motor vehicles endangered public health.
The finding was challenged and upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. in 2012.
Current EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin claims the finding has led to $1 trillion in regulations and the passage of the Clean Vehicle tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act.
“With this proposal, the Trump EPA is proposing to end sixteen years of uncertainty for automakers and American consumers,” Zeldin said in a press release. “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. We heard loud and clear the concern that EPA’s GHG emissions standards themselves, not carbon dioxide, which the Finding never assessed independently, were 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.”
The proposal was entered into the Federal Register for public comment through Sept. 15. The EPA will announce a public hearing following the comment period.
