Trump's EPA now says greenhouse gases don't endanger people

Source: NPR

July 24, 2025 5:00 AM ET


The Trump administration wants to overturn a key 2009 Environmental Protection Agency finding that underpins much of the federal government's actions to rein in climate change. The EPA has crafted a proposal that would undo the government's "endangerment finding," a determination that pollutants from burning fossil fuels, such as carbon dioxide and methane, can be regulated under the Clean Air Act. The finding has long served as the foundation for a host of policies and rules to address climate change.

The EPA's proposal to revoke the finding is currently under review by the White House Office of Management and Budget. Already, environmentalists, climate advocates and others are bracing for what could be a fundamental shift away from trying to address the problem of a hotter climate. And the Trump administration is celebrating the proposal as a potential economic win.

"Today is the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen," EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in announcing the proposal in March. "We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more."

The administration's effort comes in the wake of the hottest year humans have ever recorded on Earth, climate-fueled wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes in Los Angeles and hotter ocean temperatures that made Hurricane Helene stronger and more likely to cause damage inland.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/07/24/nx-s1-5302162/climate-change-trump-epa