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In 'Giant Gift' to Big Oil, EPA to Repeal Climate Finding That Underpins Regulations
"This is anti-scientific, immoral, and economically irresponsible," said one Democratic lawmaker.
Jul 23, 2025
The scientific evidence underpinning the 2009 legal opinion that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human lives and public health "has only become more robust" over the last 16 years, noted one biodiversity protection group on Wednesday—yet the top environmental agency in the United States is reportedly days away from rescinding the finding that has backed key anti-pollution regulations.
Months after Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin marked what he called "the most consequential day of deregulation in American history" by announcing plans to reconsider the 2009 "endangerment finding," administration sources said Wednesday that the EPA has drafted a plan to repeal the finding as well as limits on tailpipe emissions—which were based on the legal opinion.
The endangerment finding was made official as a result of the 2007 Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA, which affirmed that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane are pollutants that must be regulated under the Clean Air Act.
The finding was outlined in a 210-page document that explained how six greenhouse gases were harming public health and safety by contributing to more frequent and severe extreme heat and storms, and were expected to cause higher rates of death and disease.
The New York Times notably pointed out that "the draft EPA rule does not appear to focus on the science or try to make the case that fossil fuels aren't warming the planet" but rather claims that the agency overstepped its authority by finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger the public.
"The EPA intends to argue that imposing climate regulations on automakers poses the real harm to human health because it would lead to higher prices and reduced consumer choice, according to the two people familiar with the administration's plan," the Times reported.
Effectively, said former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth, the EPA is proceeding as though President Donald Trump "has 'solved' climate change."
"He will revoke the scientific findings behind it and hence eliminate the ability of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to work on it," said Roth. "And we're not supposed to notice the consequences."
If the endangerment finding is repealed as planned, it would clear the way to erase all regulatory limits on pollution from vehicles, power plants, and other sources, as well as preventing future administrations from passing regulations.
"This is BEYOND devastating for future generations," said Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias.
The Trump administration is moving to repeal the foundational scientific finding as well as tailpipe emissions limits weeks after a study by three climate experts found that the devastating floods in central Texas earlier this month—which killed at least 135 people, including dozens of young children—were caused by "very exceptional meteorological conditions" that were induced by human-caused climate change.
The proposed repeal of the endangerment finding "is anti-scientific, immoral, and economically irresponsible," said U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.).
The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) pointed out that the tailpipe emissions rules Trump plans to slash would not only cut 7 billion metric tons of pollution-causing emissions but also save the average driver $6,000 in fuel and maintenance costs.
"This cynical one-two punch is intended to allow Trump's Flat Earth EPA to slam the brakes on reducing auto pollution and ignore urgent warnings from the world's leading scientists about the need for climate action," said Dan Becker, director of CBD's Climate Transport Campaign.
Advocates have condemned Trump and other top administration officials for working in the interest of fossil fuel companies by moving to roll back federal policies aimed at promoting renewable energy and cutting down on emissions. The president promised oil executives he would do so during his campaign last year when he asked them to donate $1 billion to him in a statement that sparked an investigation over the alleged quid pro quo offer.
On Tuesday, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington released a report showing that White House aides hold up to $2.25 million in Big Oil stocks.
"By revoking this key scientific finding our government is putting fealty to Big Oil over sound science and people's health," said Becker. "These proposals are a giant gift to oil companies that will do real damage to people, wildlife, and future generations."
Rescinding the vehicle emissions regulations and the endangerment finding makes "a mockery of the institutions set up to protect us all," said Anne Jellema, executive director of 350.org.
"It's one thing to willfully ignore the science in favor of profit, but to attempt to cancel it altogether beggars belief," said Jellema. "Canceling the endangerment finding would declare open season on all of humanity, and cause irreversible harm to the entire planet, not just within the boundaries of the United States."
“We are already bearing witness to the impacts of the chaotic policy changes being pushed through by this administration. These have cost us lives, and will continue to do so long into the future," she added.
Jellema urged climate advocates to make their opposition to the repeal known after it is formally announced, at which point it will be subject to public comment.
"We will not sit back," said Jellema, "and let this administration unravel the protections we have fought so long and hard for."
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2024 Still on Track to Be First Full Year That Breached 1.5°C
"No surprise at all, but still shocking news. Will temperatures drop below 1.5°C again? I have my doubts," said one climate scientist.
Dec 09, 2024
Data from the first 11 months of 2024 reaffirmed that the globe is set to pass a grim milestone this year, according to the European Union's earth observation program.
The E.U.'s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in a report Monday that November 2024 was 1.62°C above the preindustrial level, making it the 16th month in a 17-month stretch during which global-average surface air temperature breached 1.5°C. November 2024 was the second-warmest November, after November of last year, according to C3S.
"At this point, it is effectively certain that 2024 is going to be the warmest year on record and more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level," according to a Monday statement from C3S. With data for November in hand, the service estimates that global temperature is set to be 1.59°C above the pre-industrial level for 2024, up from 1.48°C last year.
C3S announced last month that 2024 was "virtually certain" to be the hottest year on record after October 2024 hit 1.65°C higher than preindustrial levels.
"This does not mean that the Paris Agreement has been breached, but it does mean ambitious climate action is more urgent than ever," said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S.
Under the 2015 Paris agreement, signatory countries pledged to reduce their global greenhouse gas emissions with the aim of keeping global temperature rise this century to 1.5ºC, well below 2°C above preindustrial levels. According to the United Nations, going above 1.5ºC on an annual or monthly basis doesn't constitute failure to reach the agreement's goal, which refers to temperature rise over decades—however, "breaches of 1.5°C for a month or a year are early signs of getting perilously close to exceeding the long-term limit, and serve as clarion calls for increasing ambition and accelerating action in this critical decade."
Additionally, a recent paper in the journal Nature warned of irreversible impacts from overshooting the 1.5ºC target, even temporarily.
Climate scientist and volcanologist Bill McGuire reacted to the news Monday, saying: "Average temperature for 2024 expected to be 1.60°C. A massive hike on 2023, which itself was the hottest year for probably 120,000 years. No surprise at all, but still shocking news. Will temperatures drop below 1.5°C again? I have my doubts."
The update comes on the heels of COP29, the most recent U.N. climate summit, which many climate campaigners viewed as a disappointment. During the summit, attendees sought to reach a climate financing agreement that would see rich, developed countries contribute money to help developing countries decarbonize and deal with the impacts of the climate emergency. The final dollar amount, according to critics, fell far short of what developing countries need.
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Climate Crisis Made Deadly Heatwave in US and Mexico 35 Times More Likely
"As long as humans fill the atmosphere with fossil-fuel emissions, the heat will only get worse—vulnerable people will continue to die," an author of the analysis said.
Jun 20, 2024
Scientists on Thursday released an analysis showing the likely role of climate change in creating the deadly heatwave that hit areas including Mexico and the U.S. south in late May and early June.
Record-breaking heat caused by a heat dome, which engulfed areas from Nevada to Honduras, was hotter and more likely to occur due to the climate crisis, with five-day maximum daytime temperatures 35 times more likely than in pre-industrial times and nighttime temperatures 200 times more likely, scientists at World Weather Attribution (WWA) found.
At least 35 died of related illness in just one week in early June in Mexico, and the total death toll may have been much higher. The scientists emphasized that the extreme weather causing the death and suffering was brought about by fossil fuel emissions.
"Unsurprisingly, heatwaves are getting deadlier," Friederike Otto, a co-author of the study and climate scientist at Imperial College London, told The Guardian. "We've known about the dangers of climate change at least since the 1970s. But thanks to spineless politicians, who give in to fossil-fuel lobbying again and again, the world continues to burn huge amounts of oil, gas, and coal."
Deadly heat that would have been very rare without climate change & even relatively rare just 20 years ago, now common event due to continued increase in emissions from burning fossil fuels. We now this is happening, but we are not prepared. https://t.co/M93eB8TiIu pic.twitter.com/4U8lIXB8xN
— Dr Friederike Otto (@FrediOtto) June 20, 2024
The analysis was published on the same day that the Energy Institute reported that fossil fuel consumption climbed to a record high in 2023, with coal, oil, and gas still making up more than 80% of the global energy mix, though the figure fell below 70% in Europe for the first time.
May was the 12th consecutive month that was the hottest on record globally, compared to the same time period in previous years. And June has proved to be dangerously hot in many areas, with hundreds dying in the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as temperatures rose above 124°F and Balkan countries, as well as much of the U.S., currently under extreme heat advisories.
The WWA scientists sought to connect the May-June heatwave to these larger trends, and repeatedly explained the cause of the problem.
"As long as humans fill the atmosphere with fossil-fuel emissions, the heat will only get worse—vulnerable people will continue to die and the cost of living will continue to increase," Izidine Pinto, a co-author and researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, told The Guardian.
The heatwave coincided with a drought in Mexico, exacerbating already dire conditions as water supplies dwindled and electricity systems faltered. It also followed, and may have helped prolong, a terrible outbreak of dengue in Latin America and the Caribbean that caused over 1,800 deaths. "Every heatwave is a push that builds up dengue transmission," an expert told Scientific American in April. Dengue cases have begun to decline but still persist, according to Dialogue Earth.
The May-June heatwave was notable for especially high nighttime temperatures, which prevent the body from resting and recovering from the daytime heat—a process that's only possible below about 80°F. Certain places in the study area saw nighttime temperatures "with return periods of up to 1000 years."
The climate crisis is changing the likelihood of such weather. "The extreme heat slamming the eastern U.S. this week may be a sign of things to come," The Hill's Zach Budryk wrote Thursday.
That was similar to the message of the WWA scientists.
"These trends will continue with future warming and events like the one observed in 2024 will be very common in a 2°C world," according to their analysis, which refers to a time when the planet has heated 2°C above preindustrial levels; it's already heated up by more than 1°C.
In the analysis, the authors called for warning systems, action plans, laws to protect outdoor workers, and other resilience measures such as better grid systems and more green spaces.
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