Regular Americans and the environment are harmed more than they benefit by the Obama administration EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding (EF). This regulatory finding, labeled carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (natural gas – CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), HFCs, PFCs, and SF6 – is a threat to public health and welfare.
Burdensome regulations spawned by the EF increase the cost of everything including food. They stifle innovation, burden industries, and unnecessarily restrict energy choices. By overturning this ruling, the EPA will promote an approach that prioritizes economic growth, technological advancements, and environmental stewardship without unnecessary government overreach.
The foundation of the EF is based on climate models and scientific assessments that, while well-intentioned, have proven to dramatically overestimate warming from these greenhouse gases. Actual impact of CO2 emissions on extreme weather events are also overestimated. They are declining as a percentage of GDP, and even the IPCC admits this!
The assumption that CO2 – an essential component of photosynthesis and life itself – should be classified as a dangerous pollutant is fundamentally flawed. Each person creates and exhales about 700 pounds of CO2 each year, more if you are a runner, and there are 8 billion of us.
The EF doesn’t mention or seek to regulate the most abundant, impactful greenhouse gas. Water vapor and clouds provide from 60% to 95% of the greenhouse effect. Water vapor is 50 times more abundant than CO2, 11,000 times more than methane and 60,000 times more than nitrous oxide.
At present rates of increase, CO2 will take 180 years to double, and Dr. Will Happer, a physicist at Princeton, explains that doubling CO2 will warm our planet only slightly. Methane and nitrous oxide will take more than 250 years to double and will still be tiny inconsequential parts of our atmosphere.
The costs of the EF have been severe. It has been used to justify stringent emissions regulations on industries ranging from manufacturing to transportation, harming our economy, families’ ability to afford necessities, reducing the United States’ competitiveness on the global stage, and endangering our national security. Climate policies make everything more expensive.
Small businesses, in particular, have struggled under the weight of these regulations, facing higher compliance costs that cause increased consumer prices and job losses. It has caused jobs to leave our country in favor of China and other countries that have been dramatically increasing their greenhouse gas emissions to provide more energy and prosperity.
EF regulations have restricted energy production and increase the costs in the fossil fuel sector. The United States has vast reserves of coal, oil and natural gas, which have historically driven economic prosperity. Overturning the EF will pave the way for increased domestic energy production, reducing reliance on foreign energy sources, thereby lowering energy costs for American consumers, as well as increasing our economic and national security.
Overturning the EF does not mean disregarding environmental protection. Instead, it provides an opportunity to develop a more balanced and pragmatic approach – one that considers both economic growth and environmental responsibility. This will create regulatory framework that fosters innovation rather than penalizing industry, which will lead to more meaningful long-term environmental improvements and increasing opportunities for many more Americans.
CO2 is airborne MiracleGro. A NASA study tells us that the world is 35% greener over the last 40 years, and continues to get even greener. Forests the size of France have regrown because of it. Our World Data tells us that worldwide food crop harvests and yields are increasing significantly every year. Nitrous oxide, because of methane-created nitrogen-fertilizers, are also targeted for ever-increasing regulations. Nitrogen fertilizers feed 4 billion people, half the world.
The EF has served as the foundation for an expansive, expensive regulatory regime that has imposed unnecessary burdens and constraints on the U.S. economy, our energy, manufacturing, and food industries, and it has diverted time, money and brain power away from increasing prosperity for all Americans. Only the green grifters, Communist China that produces 80% of the wind, solar and batteries it requires, and power-hungry politicians and bureaucrats have benefited.
Environmental stewardship remains an important goal, it must be pursued in a way that does not undermine economic prosperity or infringe on energy independence. By overturning the Endangerment Finding, the EPA can promote a more balanced and science-driven approach – one that prioritizes innovation, responsible resource management, and economic growth. Now is the time to re-evaluate this outdated ruling and replace it with policies that empower industries, support job creation, and ensure a thriving future for the United States and the world.
