Trump's Energy Chief Overturns Biden's $1 Billion Green Plan

A Major Shift in Climate Policy

The Trump administration introduced a bold proposal that could significantly alter the nation’s climate policy and reverse many of the environmental initiatives started under President Joe Biden. This plan, led by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, aims to eliminate a key scientific determination that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and the environment.

Zeldin described his actions as “driving a dagger into the heart of the climate change religion” during an interview on the Ruthless podcast. His focus is on overturning an Obama-era regulation known as the "endangerment finding." This regulation serves as the legal foundation for most of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) climate-related rules, including restrictions on emissions from power plants and vehicles.

“The endangerment finding allowed them to implement regulations on vehicles, airplanes, and stationary sources, effectively regulating large parts of our economy out of existence,” Zeldin stated. He claimed that these regulations have cost Americans a significant amount of money.

Repealing the endangerment finding would mark the largest deregulatory action in American history, according to Zeldin. The Biden administration had used this finding as the basis for several regulations targeting fossil fuels. These included limitations on new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters, stricter methane emission controls in the oil and gas sector, and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

However, the Trump administration's plan to repeal the rule must go through a lengthy review process, including public comment periods, before it can be finalized, likely next year. Environmental organizations are expected to challenge the proposed changes in court.

If the endangerment finding is repealed, it would remove current limits on greenhouse gas pollution from cars, factories, power plants, and other sources. It could also prevent future administrations from proposing rules aimed at addressing climate change.

In March, Zeldin called for rewriting the endangerment finding as part of a broader set of environmental rollbacks. He described this move as “the greatest day of deregulation in American history.” Under his plan, 31 major environmental rules related to clean air, clean water, and climate change would be rolled back or removed.

Zeldin referred to the endangerment finding as “the Holy Grail of the climate change religion” and expressed enthusiasm about ending it, stating that the EPA was helping to usher in the “Golden Age of American success.”

The EPA is also expected to propose removing limits on tailpipe emissions designed to encourage automakers to produce and sell more electric vehicles. Transportation, including cars and trucks, accounts for 29% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to the EPA.

This proposal follows an executive order from Trump directing the agency to submit a report on the legality and continued relevance of the endangerment finding. Conservatives and some Republican lawmakers have praised the initial plan, calling it a way to eliminate economically harmful regulations on greenhouse gases.

However, environmental groups, legal experts, and Democrats argue that any attempt to repeal or weaken the endangerment finding would face significant challenges and have a low chance of success. The endangerment finding came two years after a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that gave the EPA authority to regulate greenhouse gases as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

Environmental organizations have strongly criticized Zeldin’s move. David Doniger, a climate expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), accused the Trump administration of using the potential repeal of the endangerment finding as a “kill shot” that would invalidate all climate regulations.