The era of the endangerment finding is over. The established science upheld by the Supreme Court is now relegated to history books as the Trump administration continues to rewrite American environmental policy. Dubbed the “single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history” by officials, the Trump administration argued that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s regulation of vehicular greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has cost Americans trillions of dollars and was illegal.
Scientists have long understood the dangers of global warming – gases like carbon dioxide trap heat from the sun, leading to climate change and precipitating environmental disasters. So, it was natural to prevent and prepare for these changes. This scientific foundation led to the 2007 Massachusetts v. EPA Supreme Court case, which provided a legal bedrock for future EPA emissions regulations. This culminated with the endangerment finding, which gave the EPA power to regulate harmful gases like carbon dioxide due to their significant impacts on human health and wellbeing.
The Trump administration rescinded this finding in part due to affordability concerns, finding that new vehicle purchase costs would drop up to $2,400 absent the finding. However, short-term gains will likely be far outweighed by long-term pain in the form of increasingly strong and frequent climate disasters.
It is also curious that while the EPA has reversed course and “now finds that even if the U.S. were to eliminate all GHG emissions from all vehicles, there would be no material impact on global climate indicators through 2100,” a writer at Yale notes that U.S. transportation emissions already outweigh all Japanese and German emissions combined. Given the clear significance of U.S. transportation emissions, it is imperative that clear action is taken to reduce emissions in a way that is thoughtful, transparent, and practical for all stakeholders.
By abandoning the endangerment finding, the Trump administration has demonstrated that it does not truly want to combat the affordability crisis or climate change. Instead, Trump seeks superficial solutions to systemic issues.
It’s possible that the most endangered of all is the truth.
Will we have the courage to speak it?
Writing About the Environment 