EPA Head Urges Donald Trump to Reassess Critical Climate Findings

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency has privately urged the Trump administration to reconsider a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for US action against climate change, reported Associated Press.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called for a rewrite of the agency’s finding that determined planet-warming greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, according to Associated Press. The 2009 finding under the Clean Air Act is the legal basis for various climate rules affecting motor vehicles, power plants and other sources of pollution.

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A spokesperson for the EPA on February 25 declined to reveal Zeldin’s recommendation, which was made last week under an executive order from United States President Donald Trump, as per a report by Associated Press. The order, issued on Trump’s first day in office, directed the EPA to submit a report “on the legality and continuing applicability” of the 2009 endangerment finding.  

The Obama-era finding “is the linchpin of the federal government’s policies for what the president and I call the climate hoax,” Steve Milloy, a former Trump transition adviser who disputes mainstream science on climate change told Associated Press.

“If you pull this (finding) out, everything EPA does on climate goes away,’' added Milloy.

A reversal of the scientific finding would require the EPA to collect fresh evidence to support a contradictory conclusion that greenhouse gases are not a threat at all. Environmentalists argue that would fly in the face of a growing scientific body of evidence that greenhouse gas emissions are the primary driver of climate change, reported Bloomberg.

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“There is a lot of shocking stuff happening now, but to completely deny climate change and any federal obligation to control the pollution that’s driving it would be shocking and irresponsible,” said David Doniger, Senior Attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

According to Euronews, Trump weakened the Endangerment Finding during his first term by instructing the EPA to roll back regulations based on it. This meant the finding was never directly repealed, but became ineffective in regulatory terms.

The EPA reinterpreted its regulatory authority, allowing the administration to replace the Clean Power Plan with the Affordable Clean Energy Rule, easing restrictions on coal power plants. With key scientific evidence now at risk, the White House is reconsidering how far it is willing to go in challenging the foundational science behind US climate action.