A Landmark Climate Rule Is Being Eliminated

The EPA is expected to revoke a landmark rule on climate emissions in the coming days that would remove limits on greenhouse gases from power plants and cars. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal report that the agency is poised to scrap a 2009 "endangerment finding" put in place during the Obama administration. That finding concluded that half-a-dozen greenhouse gases posed a threat to the public health, and it has since served as the underpinning of climate rules limiting emissions. Once the finding goes, the rules on emissions would follow.

Two key quotes:

• "This amounts to the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States," EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin tells the Journal.
• "We are pretty close to total victory," Myron Ebell, who has been fighting climate science and related policies for decades, tells the Times. Ebell credits four key figures in the move: Russell Vought and Jeffrey B. Clark (two well-known allies of President Trump), and conservative lawyers Mandy Gunasekara and Jonathan Brightbill.

The final language is expected to be made public this week, and a legal fight is sure to follow. Semafor notes that it could reach the Supreme Court, and a ruling there in favor of the White House could make it harder for future administrations to reinstate the 2009 finding. The Journal suggests the new language will initially target only auto emissions, but adds that power plant emissions would likely follow under the same precedent.