On July 29, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officially announced that it is proposing to rescind the 2009 Endangerment Finding.
According to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, the Endangerment Finding “has been used to justify over $1 trillion in regulations, including the Biden-Harris Administration’s electric vehicle (EV) mandate.”
If the proposal is finalized, the EPA would then seek to “repeal all resulting greenhouse gas emissions regulations for motor vehicles and engines, thereby reinstating consumer choice and giving Americans the ability to purchase a safe and affordable car for their family while decreasing the cost of living on all products that trucks deliver.”
For more than 15 years, the Endangerment Finding has been used as a key weapon by climate alarmists as they attempt to eliminate the gasoline-powered automobile fossil fuels.
The problem for climate alarmists is that most Americans do not want to purchase an EV or abstain from using fossil fuels. In fact, a growing number of Americans are becoming increasingly skeptical of the entire climate crisis narrative.
In 2019, during peak climate change hysteria, nearly 70 percent of Americans said they “were not willing to pay even $10 more a month in higher electric bills even if the money were used to combat climate change.”
Today, “only 16 percent of Americans reported being ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to purchase an EV as their next car.”
The Endangerment Finding has played a pivotal role as the federal government, under the Biden and Obama administrations, sought to force Americans to adopt EVs while waging war on fossil fuels.
As a result, Americans have paid a heavy price. During the Biden years, for instance, American families faced a steep 30 percent rise in energy costs.
From 2021 to 2024, residential electricity rates increased more than 21 percent. Specifically, natural gas increased by 25.9 percent, heating oil by 38 percent, kerosene by 47.3 percent, and propane by 75.4 percent.
According to a 2024 Heartland Institute report, “Since Biden entered the Oval Office, the average American household has directly paid at least $2,548 in higher direct energy costs.”
The Endangerment Finding, which has been used to justify some of the most far-reaching environmental regulations ever, has also laid the groundwork for the ludicrous green transition.
The EPA’s original interpretation of the Endangerment Finding under Obama incorrectly found that “the combined emissions of these well-mixed greenhouse gases from new motor vehicles and new motor vehicle engines contribute to the greenhouse gas pollution that threatens public health and welfare.”
Based on that flawed premise, the EPA determined it could use section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act as a “a prerequisite for implementing greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles and other sectors.”
Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and motor vehicles are not harmful to public health and welfare.
Actually, a good argument can be made that a slight increase in temperature is a net positive for humanity. As NASA satellite data show, the Earth has “greened” significantly over the past few decades. This has happened as crop yields are reaching record highs due to the sheer increase in land now suitable for agriculture.
Even NASA admits that “rising carbon dioxide concentrations in the air can be beneficial for plants.”
Aside from that, the use of fossil fuels as primary energy sources and the invention of the gasoline-powered automobile have been monumental achievements in human history.
Both have led to significant increases in living standards. Travel is faster, easier, and more accessible. Common comforts like air conditioning are now the norm for most Americans.
Yet, this need not be the default mode.
If the climate alarmist left were to have its way, Americans would no longer be allowed to drive gas-guzzlers. They would have no choice but an EV. And those luxuries like running your air conditioning all day in the hot summer months would have to be limited because the power grid would run on windmills and solar panels, which simply cannot supply enough power to meet present, let alone future, demand.
Come to think it, the climate alarmist future is a pretty dismal place. Certainly not a world I would like to live in. Fortunately, we seem to have avoided that dystopian future for the near term.
However, make no mistake, the war is far from over.
Ending the Endangerment Finding is akin to a victory in a significant battle. But it alone will not deter the climate alarmist movement in their decades-long quest to eliminate fossil fuels and the gasoline-powered vehicle.
