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Last week, Trump’s Environmental Pollution Agency—now under the leadership of fossil fuel loyalist Lee Zeldin—announced its most brazen act of climate sabotage yet: a proposed repeal of the 2009 finding that planet-warming air pollution poses a danger to humans.
This isn’t just another bad climate policy. It’s a calculated attempt to kneecap the federal government’s ability to respond to the climate crisis at a pivotal juncture for climate action, and as we breach a dangerous threshold for planetary warming.
What Is the Endangerment Finding—And Why Blow It Up?
Back in 2009, after years of scientific review, the EPA officially recognized that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are air pollutants that endanger public health and welfare. This “endangerment finding” wasn’t optional—compelled by the Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA (2007), it made regulating greenhouse gas pollution under the Clean Air Act a legal obligation.
Now, Trump’s EPA is set on erasing it along with all other “greenhouse gas emissions regulations for motor vehicles and engines.” This move is part of a broader effort by the administration to “drive a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion,” as Zeldin put it, by abandoning emissions regulations across industrial settings, including oil and gas drilling operations.
In typical Trump fashion, the arguments underpinning this assault combine faux-populist and climate denialist rhetoric, including:
- That gifting the auto industry reprieve from regulatory oversight would ostensibly “end $1 trillion or more in hidden taxes on American businesses and families.”
- That regulatory authority through the Clean Air Act only extends to air pollutants that threaten health through local or regional exposure, not emissions that raise the global temperature.
- That eliminating US carbon pollution “would not have a scientifically measurable impact” on the global climate.
Repealing the endangerment finding would remove the legal basis for federal climate action and shield future administrations from their obligation to address the climate crisis. This is the climate equivalent of burning down the courthouse so no one can be prosecuted. It’s not sloppy policymaking, it’s a deliberate attempt to lock in fossil fuel dominance and prevent action—even by future presidents.
Zeldin called this “the largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States,” but this isn’t just deregulation; it’s delegalization.
Tilting At Windmills, Blocking the Sun
The federal assault on climate policy isn’t limited to the EPA—which is currently trying to cut off $7 billion in funding for solar panels on the roofs of low- and middle-income Americans. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, a staunch fossil fuel ally, is actively working to slow-walk and sabotage clean energy permitting on federal lands and waters. (Read our profile on Burgum here.)
In mid-July, Burgum issued a directive mandating his personal approval of all wind and solar energy projects on federal lands and waters. He followed that up last Friday with an order requiring the Interior Department to evaluate new energy project proposals based on “capacity density,” or how much energy they generate per acre of land. Burgum is looking for any excuse to boost fossil fuels and restrict renewables, including by claiming that solar and wind are “highly inefficient” uses of federal land.
These aren’t the only nails in the coffin of federal clean energy policy. Last week the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management revoked the designation of “over 3.5 million acres of unleased federal waters previously targeted for offshore wind development,” abruptly cutting off the possibility of future offshore wind development. In addition, the Transportation Department declared that it would recommend a 1.2-mile setback for wind turbines built near highways and railroads.
Burgum’s attempts to throttle clean energy stand in stark contrast to his embrace of accelerated approvals for drilling and mining for oil, gas, and coal on federal lands. Interior is looking to rush through the comprehensive environmental review process in just 28 days, violating the spirit and substance of the National Environmental Policy Act. The Interior Department’s fossil-friendly permitting approach is a key front in the nationwide fossil fuel power grab, contributing to a broader slowdown in the energy transition necessary to fend off the worst climate impacts.
RDP saw this coming a mile away and consistently warned against Burgum’s supposed “all of the above” approach to energy. Centrist pundits within the abundance movement, by contrast, argued that Burgum was “a totally solid pick who’ll do good things.” Abundance advocates ought to explain their praise for Trump administration officials who are working to decrease the supply of our healthiest sources of energy.
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Want more? Check out some of the pieces that we have published or contributed research or thoughts to in the last week:
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Harvard’s Former President Praises Trump’s Repression of Academic Freedom