WRGB Studios-Schenectady, NY — On Thursday, the Trump Administration moved to revoke the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 “endangerment finding,” which has been the foundation for climate policy and emissions standards ever since.
In December 2009, the EPA found that six greenhouse gases threatened public health and welfare for people then, and in the future.
They determined those greenhouse gases were being emitted from new motor vehicles and engines, creating more gas pollution.
“This is really unfortunate, because the science hasn’t changed, only the administration’s opinion has changed,” Jon Binder, Executive Director, Model Climate Laws Initiative, told CBS6. “[The finding] served as the legal and scientific underpinning of a series of regulations and policies to address climate change.”
The Trump Administration says the revocation is the “largest deregulation in American history”, and that it would save more than $1 trillion, while also decreasing automakers’ costs by nearly $2500.
“Here’s one of the great things about us having this conversation in 2026, is that we don’t have to rely on bad assumptions that were made in 2009 of where we would actually be in 2026,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin told CBS News. “Now we can rely on present day facts. And what was done in 2009 was that they didn’t analyze each of these individual greenhouse gas emissions individually, and they didn’t just study and utilize greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. They added additional greenhouse gases on top of it, even if they weren’t emitted from vehicles and trucks. Despite the fact that this was a decision that was being made regarding vehicles. So they take all of these greenhouse gases, they don’t study them individually, and then they say that it contributes – it doesn’t say causes, it contributes to global climate change. That’s not in the Clean Air Act.”
Environmental groups though, are skeptical of those cost saving projections, saying consumers would be picking up the bill for vehicles not beholden to emissions standards. The Environmental Defense Fund saying health impacts could result in more than 50,000 premature deaths, and nearly 40 million asthma attacks.
Binder says this revocation though, doesn’t stop states, like New York, from still implementing climate standards.
“I think there should be a sense of urgency in New York and other states too,” he says. “We feel that even more now because we know that the federal government, unfortunately, is not going to be acting under this Administration. That makes it all the more imperative for States like New York to act to implement our laws like the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.”
Following the Trump Administration announcement, Katherine Nadeau, Deputy Executive Director, Policy and Programs, Environmental Advocates NY released this statement:
“The federal government may be abandoning science and reason, but the rest of the world isn’t — and states like ours need to have the courage to face the biggest environmental, energy, and economic crisis of the 21st century. The world is calling on New York to lead, and we must answer that call.
“As the Trump administration rushes to destroy decades of responsible climate and environmental policy to make millions for his fossil fuel cronies, we’re urging Governor Hochul and the legislature not just to stand firm but to step up our investments in clean energy and environmental protection.”