We are at a historic turning point. The Environmental Protection Agency, under Administrator Lee Zeldin and with the full support of President Donald Trump, has formally rescinded Obama’s 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding. Obama told us that our electricity rates would skyrocket under his plan. He was right about that.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt rightly called it “the largest deregulatory action in American history,” one that will spare the American people $1.3 trillion in crushing regulations. This is not mere politics; it is an overdue correction of a regulatory travesty built on climate ideology, politics, and graft, not science.
Remember the half-billion-dollar loss by Solyndra? Biden’s Green New Deal lost us billions of borrowed taxpayer money. And car makers recently booked $114 billion in losses on EVs caused by regulations based on the endangerment finding, which drives up the costs of gas cars in the process.
The 2009 finding was never an open inquiry. Internal EPA emails, now spotlighted by the Government Accountability & Oversight investigation, reveal that Obama administration political appointees labeled endangerment a “decision ready to go,” a “basic fact,” and “nothing more than science and common sense” within weeks of the inauguration—before any meaningful scientific review.
The rush was explicit: the finding had to be ready for the Copenhagen climate conference. As Matthew Wielicki, author of the Irrational Fear, documented. It was engineered for a foregone conclusion, not to test whether CO₂ actually endangers public health or welfare. That was not legitimate rulemaking; it was a rush job to satisfy ideology and political agendas.
Science never supported the finding. Carbon dioxide is the gas of life—0.04 percent of the atmosphere, essential for photosynthesis. The University of Oklahoma recommends greenhouses add CO₂. For most of Earth’s history, CO₂ levels were 1,000 to 4,000 ppm; life flourished. Today’s level has greened the planet, expanded forests, shrunk deserts, boosted crop yields, and improved plant water-use efficiency, as satellite data confirm.
Modest warming since the Little Ice Age (about 1350 to 1850) has brought longer growing seasons and fewer cold-related deaths. Cold kills far more people than heat. Empirical evidence shows no climate “crisis.” Disaster trends do not support alarm. The finding ignored natural factors such as solar cycles, clouds, and ocean currents while ignoring CO₂ fertilization benefits.
It was a tool for vehicle mandates, forcing automakers to produce money-losing electric vehicles that few consumers wanted, inflating new-car prices by thousands of dollars and limiting choice. It saddled power plants, coal mines, manufacturing, and the entire energy sector with trillions in compliance costs that raised electricity and gasoline prices. Hitting working families hardest.
The American Energy Alliance President Tom Pyle captured it perfectly: the finding was “weaponized against projects and goods that deliver affordable, reliable energy,” harming competitiveness and jobs. Rescinding it frees manufacturers to build cars and trucks Americans actually want and restores sanity to energy policy.
Critics at Earthjustice and elsewhere warn of “abandoning our responsibility to keep us safe from extreme weather.” Yet the reality is the opposite. The finding rested on speculative models that have repeatedly failed to match observations. Ecosystems are thriving. Humanity benefits from modest warming and more CO₂. There is no climate emergency. The real danger was the regulatory overreach that never belonged under the Clean Air Act.
This repeal is a victory for consumers, workers, and constitutional order. It returns CO₂ regulation to Congress, where it belongs. The Supreme Court should now overturn the flawed ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA that spawned this bureaucratic empire.
The administration must press forward. Rescinding the finding for power plants next—and defend it vigorously in court.
Winter storm Fern, where coal power plants ramped up to 31 percent of electricity and the bulk of the rest from natural gas and nuclear energy saved the day. Saving lives and keeping the lights and heat on in people’s homes and hospitals humming. The power plant rule will result in the closure of even more coal plants. And increasing the cost of natural gas plants. Driving electricity rates even higher and leaving us even shorter of electricity.
Hallelujah. The gas of life is finally free from the regulatory noose for cars anyway.
American families will save thousands on vehicles and energy bills. Jobs in oil, gas, coal, autos, and steel will flourish. Prosperity, not panic, will guide policy. This long-overdue action restores common sense, economic freedom, and scientific honesty. President Trump and Administrator Zeldin deserve resounding applause.
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