Overview
- The administration’s action eliminates the 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health, removing EPA’s Clean Air Act basis to regulate climate pollution.
- Federal greenhouse‑gas standards for cars and trucks were scrapped at the same time, with the White House citing roughly $1.3 trillion in regulatory savings and about $2,400 lower costs per new vehicle.
- EPA removed draft language attacking mainstream climate science and is defending the repeal primarily on legal grounds about the scope of the Clean Air Act.
- California and environmental groups announced immediate lawsuits that could advance from the D.C. Circuit to the Supreme Court, where Massachusetts v. EPA and West Virginia v. EPA will shape the outcome.
- The reversal injects uncertainty for automakers and energy companies, raises the prospect of fragmented state-level standards, and threatens the legal footing for future power‑plant and oil‑and‑gas rules.