The Fight Over US Climate Rules Is Just Beginning

The article discusses the imminent rollback of the "endangerment finding," a 2009 EPA ruling that forms the legal and scientific foundation for regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. This finding, mandated by the 2007 Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, requires the EPA to regulate air pollutants that threaten public health and welfare, including greenhouse gases. The rollback, driven by right-wing special interest groups over the past 15 years and supported by efforts like those from the Heritage Foundation, represents the most aggressive challenge to US climate regulation to date and is expected to trigger prolonged legal battles likely to reach the Supreme Court. The endangerment finding has historically been difficult to overturn, partly because many industries favored regulatory stability and EPA authority. Even during the Trump administration, EPA leaders resisted repealing the finding despite ideological pressure. The current rollback proposal includes numerous arguments aimed at undermining the scientific basis and legal authority of the finding, such as the claim that global greenhouse gas emissions should not be regulated