EPA proposes rule to overturn regulatory finding justifying major restrictions on consumer choice: CEI analysis

Today, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the agency’s proposed rule that would overturn the 2009 endangerment finding. For 16 years, this finding has been used by the EPA to finalize rules regulating greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., including through the Biden EPA’s de facto electric vehicle mandate. A significant aspect of the proposed rule is the assertion that the agency does not have authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles. CEI energy and environment experts applaud Zeldin and the EPA for making this monumental change.

CEI Director for the Center of Energy & Environment and Senior Fellow Daren Bakst:

“Today is the first step in protecting Americans from bureaucrats who think they should decide what kind of cars we can drive. To those bureaucrats and their allies, it doesn’t matter if their central planning increases car prices, undermines individual freedom, limits our ability to get around, or disproportionately hurts the poor.

“The effect of EPA’s proposed rule is a rejection of the far-left mindset that believes addressing climate change requires sacrificing human flourishing and blocking economic development. By embracing policies that empower human flourishing and innovation, we will both improve our lives today and ensure an even brighter future. We need to place faith in humanity, not see it as the enemy. After all, humans are the ultimate resource. 

“The proposed rule is an action being made to ensure that the EPA acts consistently with the rule of law. For example, the agency is recognizing critical legal developments that demonstrate it doesn’t have authority to regulate these emissions. One such major legal development is a case called West Virginia v. EPA in 2022 that fleshed out what is known as the major questions doctrine. The Supreme Court said that when an agency seeks to answer questions of vast economic and political significance, the agency must point to clear Congressional authorization. There is no such authorization. In fact, Congress has regularly rejected regulating greenhouse gas emissions. 

“I commend EPA Administrator Zeldin for revisiting the endangerment finding and reviewing whether the EPA has statutory authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles. This is a much-needed action that will help get the EPA back to being the Environmental Protection Agency and not the ‘Economic Planning Agency.’”

Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis, Jr.:

“Under Presidents Obama and Biden, the EPA’s 2009 greenhouse gas (GHG) endangerment finding became a pretext for the agency, without congressional authorization, to impose centralized economic planning on the US transportation and electric power sectors, and for multi-agency (“whole-of-government”) regulatory assaults on domestic energy resources with which America is abundantly endowed. That agenda makes cars and electricity more costly for consumers, restricts consumer choices, and makes America more reliant on China for critical minerals and supply chains.

“When enacting the Clean Air Act, Congress intended for the EPA to ‘protect and enhance the quality of the Nation’s air resources so as to promote the public health and welfare and the productive capacity of its population’ (emphasis added). CEI congratulates Administrator Zeldin for taking a bold step today to return the agency to that core mission. Repealing the endangerment finding clears the path for a new era of American prosperity.

“People who worry that repealing EPA’s ban on sales of gas- and diesel-powered cars will lead to a climate meltdown should relax. The so-called climate crisis is a political narrative, not a scientific finding. The average person’s risk of dying today from extreme weather is more than 99 percent lower than it was a hundred years ago. That great news, which the endangerment finding completely overlooked, has nothing to do with emissions or changes in the weather and everything to do with the wealth creation and technological innovation supported by humanity’s development and use of abundant, affordable energy resources. By removing regulatory risks to innovation and investment, repeal of the endangerment finding should help foster a more climate-resilient economy.”