Trump Admin Unleashes American Energy With Key Regulatory Move
14th February 2026
It’s hard to wrap your head around the massive news President Donald Trump and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced Thursday.
Trump and Zeldin estimated that the EPA will save taxpayers over $1.3 trillion by eliminating the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, which served as the bedrock for a host of greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles in model years 2012 to 2027.
The Clean Air Act of 1970 directed the EPA to regulate “any air pollutant” that could “endanger public health or welfare.”
In 2006, Massachusetts and 11 other states sued the agency, demanding that it regulate greenhouse gas emissions on the theory that the emissions contribute to climate change and therefore endanger public health. The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the EPA must consider “whether greenhouse gas emissions contribute to climate change,” and the Obama administration issued the Endangerment Finding in 2009.