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Trump just blew up a load-bearing pillar of climate regulation in the US. What happens now?
President Donald Trump with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, holding a signed executive order directing the military to purchase electricity from coal-fired power plants at the White House in Washington, DC, on February 11, 2026. | Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
The Trump administration is about to tear down a load-bearing ruling that considers climate change as a threat to Americans’ health.
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is announcing that it will publish its final rule to dismantle the endangerment finding for greenhouse gases — the legal foundation of the EPA’s major US climate regulations. But when it comes to climate regulation, a final rule is not the final word, and the move means frustrating uncertainty for industry, for the environment, and for ordinary people.
This is the culmination of a long campaign for President Donald Trump and his allies to undo climate change regulations. The endangerment finding — which an EPA spokesperson described to Vox in an email as “one of the most damaging decisions in modern history” — was name-checked as a target in Project 2025. Last year, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin wrote that repealing these rules would drive “a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion.”
Key takeaways
The endangerment finding is a determination that climate change is a danger to public health and obligates the Environmental Protection Agency to act on it. It serves as the basis for major climate regulations, particularly greenhouse gas limits for cars and trucks. Repealing the endangerment finding has been a longstanding goal for Trump and his allies. However, the repeal will launch a wave of lawsuits with an uncertain outcome. If the endangerment finding lives, the Trump administration will be forced to issue new climate regulations. But if it doesn’t, it sets the stage for rolling back even more emissions rules. And a future Democratic administration could throw the whole thing in reverse. This regulatory uncertainty is exposing Americans to more pollution and is making it more difficult for industries to comply with rules that keep changing.The tale of the endangerment finding is its own saga. In 2007, the US Supreme Court ruled that the EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act if they harm public health. In 2009, the EPA under President Barack Obama found that, indeed, gases that heat up the planet endanger people’s lives. The fossil fuel industry and Republican-led states have challenged the decision over the years, but federal courts have continued to uphold it.
The most important consequence of this finding is that it justifies tougher pollution limits on cars and trucks. Car companies can then stay within those caps by increasing fuel efficiency or electrifying their fleets. The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the US, the bulk of which come from road vehicles. Without the endangerment........
© Vox
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