Lee Zeldin, the Trump administration’s head of the Environmental Protection Agency, is considering rescinding a 2009 endangerment study that found greenhouse gases pose a threat to human health and well-being, as early as this week, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The EPA’s findings set the legal basis for federal regulations on six greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, but the regulations have not been successfully challenged since they were first enacted.
The move is almost certain to result in many lawsuits, and the issue could take years to resolve. The EPA’s action only affects car and truck emissions, but the Trump administration is expected to use it to ease regulations in other sectors, such as power plants and industrial facilities.
Legacy automakers that asked President Trump to ease fuel economy regulations specifically did not ask the Environmental Protection Agency to rescind endangered certifications. Tesla went further, asking the EPA to uphold its findings, saying they are “based on solid facts and the scientific record.”
If the Trump administration is successful, the United States will become increasingly out of step with regulations in other developed countries. Companies doing business across borders must develop different approaches for each market, increasing costs.
Automakers in particular face a future in which they will have to respond to a polarized market, at least in the short term. Regulatory whiplash in the U.S. and increased competition from China are costing automakers tens of billions of dollars.
U.S. automakers’ reliance on fossil fuel-powered trucks in particular has pushed the domestic industry into a corner, providing addictive profits that distract them from future-proofing their vehicles ahead of seemingly inevitable competition from Chinese manufacturers.
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The Trump administration told the Journal that the policy changes are expected to save more than $1 trillion, but provided no evidence to support that figure.
Climate change is expected to cost more. The Congressional Budget Office has revealed that nearly $1 trillion worth of real estate is threatened by rising sea levels and could lead to a 2% higher death rate in the United States if global warming is not mitigated. Another study published in 2024 found that climate change could reduce global GDP by 17% by 2050, equivalent to $38 trillion annually.
