Lee Zeldin by Gage Skidmore https://flic.kr/p/2pYWzWW

Last week, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the single largest deregulatory action in American history. The Administration repealed the Obama-era 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, along with all federal GHG emissions standards imposed thereafter on vehicles and engines, covering model years 2012 through 2027 and beyond.

ATR President Grover Norquist released the following statement:

“Thank you @POTUS and @epaleezeldin for delivering historic deregulation by rescinding the Obama Endangerment Finding. This is how the Left weaponized the EPA to kill new projects, strangle investment and threaten whole industries. This is a major win for affordable energy.”

ATR applauds this historic action, which will save Americans a whopping $1.3 trillion. Not only will this action result in an average cost savings of over $2,400 per vehicle, but it will also lower prices of all products by lowering the cost of trucks.

The endangerment finding was a formal determination by the EPA identifying six greenhouse gases (GHG), including carbon dioxide and methane, as a threat to public health and welfare. This was used to justify broad authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate emissions.

Since 2009, the agency has used the endangerment finding to justify seven different regulations placed on vehicles. These rules include GHG limits for light-duty vehicles, tighter fuel economy and emissions standards in the midterm evaluations, and multi-pollutant GHG standards for 2027 and beyond – a de facto EV mandate. The agency also extended its reach into medium- and heavy-duty vehicles with Phase 1 and Phase 2 regulations, setting emissions and efficiency requirements for trucks, buses, and vocational vehicles.

Combined, these regulatory actions imposed more than $1 trillion in aggregate costs, all without clear congressional authorization.

In 2022, the Supreme Court applied the “major questions doctrine” in West Virginia v. EPA, concluding that agencies cannot decide issues of vast economic and political significance unless Congress has spoken clearly. In 2024, SCOTUS overturned the long-standing doctrine of Chevron deference altogether in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. As a result, courts may no longer defer to an agency interpretation of the law simply because a statute is ambiguous.

After reevaluating the Clean Air Act and these relevant court decisions, the EPA determined that Section 202(a) does not authorize the EPA to regulate motor vehicle and engine emissions to address global climate change, thus the 2009 Endangerment Finding and the regulations built upon it lack a lawful foundation. As the White House explains, their Administration is interested in following the law as it is written, not stretching authority to fit the policy wishes of activists:

“EPA firmly believes the 2009 Endangerment Finding made by the Obama Administration exceeded the agency’s authority to combat “air pollution” that harms public health and welfare, and that a policy decision of this magnitude, which carries sweeping economic and policy consequences, lies solely with Congress. Unlike our predecessors, the Trump EPA is committed to following the law exactly as it is written and as Congress intended—not as others might wish it to be.”

Eliminating the endangerment finding ensures that sweeping climate and energy regulations are grounded in law rather than activists’ agendas. Innovation should drive emissions reductions, not ham-fisted government regulations.

These actions are especially inspiring in the context of the Administration’s aggressive deregulation across the board. According to the White House Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), the Administration finalized 129 deregulatory actions for each regulatory action in 2025:

  • In total, agencies finalized 646 deregulatory actions compared to only 5 regulatory actions, for a ratio of 129-to-1, dramatically exceeding the President’s 10-to-1 target.
  • These actions have realized $211.8 billion in net cost savings, over $600 per American.

The Trump Administration’s achievements prove a deep commitment to letting the American economy thrive. What’s most exciting is that, even though these actions are just the beginning, they already constitute one of the largest waves of deregulation in a single year.