By Abbas Nazil
The Environmental Protection Agency has reversed its longstanding determination that greenhouse gases endanger human health and the environment, marking a sweeping policy shift that aligns the agency with President Donald Trump’s rejection of mainstream climate science.
In announcing what it called the largest deregulatory action in US history, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the agency would eliminate vehicle emissions standards and roll back Obama-era findings that carbon dioxide and methane contribute to climate change and threaten public welfare.
The EPA claimed the rollback would save taxpayers more than $1.3tn, while Trump said the move would save trillions of dollars, though detailed explanations of those savings were not provided.
The decision overturns a key scientific and legal foundation established during the Obama administration that enabled federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.
Zeldin described the previous endangerment finding as part of an ideological crusade that he argued harmed the auto industry and overextended federal authority.
The policy change has drawn immediate criticism from environmental advocates, legal scholars and faith-based groups concerned about public health and climate impacts.
Jessica Moerman, president of the Evangelical Environmental Network, said pollution harms human life and warned that the effort is likely to fail in court while diverting attention from domestic climate solutions.
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced plans to challenge the EPA’s move legally and said the state would continue regulating greenhouse gas emissions.
Legal experts have argued that the agency’s reversal may be vulnerable because it does not cite new scientific findings contradicting established climate research.
Environmental groups contend that weakening emissions standards could worsen respiratory illnesses, increase heat-related deaths and intensify extreme weather events.
The administration has also moved to bolster fossil fuel production, including efforts to revive coal use and direct federal agencies to purchase electricity generated from coal-fired plants.
The EPA’s shift mirrors proposals outlined in The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 blueprint, which criticized environmental regulations as economically harmful and excessive.
The move underscores a dramatic departure from earlier bipartisan environmental efforts that led to the creation of the EPA under President Richard Nixon and the passage of the Clean Air Act in 1990 under President George H W Bush.
Trump has further distanced the United States from global climate cooperation by withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, leaving the country isolated among nearly 200 nations participating in the accord.
