{"id":427141,"date":"2026-02-20T09:04:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=427141"},"modified":"2026-02-20T09:04:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:04:19","slug":"epas-elegant-arguments-for-endangerment-repeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=427141","title":{"rendered":"EPA\u2019s elegant arguments for endangerment repeal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By David Wojick<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

EPA\u2019s arguments for repealing the Obama endangerment finding are simple, clear, and strong. So, they have a likely chance of winning in the Supreme Court (SCOTUS), which is where the final decision will be made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am working from the lengthy EPA press release which contains what amounts to a summary legal brief of the arguments<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The primary argument is legal and aimed directly at SCOTUS. The release even cites several relevant prior decisions. The gist of these decisions is that agencies cannot find new meaning in old statutes that suddenly gives them enormous new regulatory powers. Such recklessness is called regulatory overreach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EPA\u2019s argument is that massive overreach is precisely what the endangerment finding did, and it sure looks that way. It was not mission creep, more like mission explosion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statute in question is Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act which lets EPA regulate harmful tailpipe emissions from motor vehicles. The Obama endangerment finding is entirely based on this narrow rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is how EPA puts it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe agency concludes that Section 202(a) of the CAA does not provide statutory authority for EPA to prescribe motor vehicle and engine emission standards in the manner previously utilized, including for the purpose of addressing global climate change, and therefore has no legal basis for the Endangerment Finding and resulting regulations. EPA firmly believes the 2009 Endangerment Finding made by the Obama Administration exceeded the agency\u2019s authority to combat \u201cair pollution\u201d 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\u2014not as others might wish it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is just the sort of statutory issue the Supreme Court usually deals with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is an element of the endangerment finding that is so blatantly wrong that it is hilarious. I would start with it because it certainly makes EPA\u2019s case for repeal, at least in part. EPA mentions it in passing saying this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn an unprecedented move, the Obama EPA found that carbon dioxide emissions emitted from automobiles \u2013 in combination with five other gases, some of which vehicles don\u2019t even emit \u2013 contribute an unknown amount to greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So they used the tailpipe statute to assess (and then regulate) gases that tailpipes do not emit. There is clearly no statutory basis for these endangerment findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are not scientific issues, and SCOTUS does not normally adjudicate science. There are, however, one and a half scientific arguments in case the science comes up. That is, one argument is fully stated in the release while the other is merely alluded to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the fully stated argument:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUsing the same types of models utilized by the previous administrations and climate change zealots, EPA now finds that even if the U.S. were to eliminate all GHG emissions from all vehicles, there would be no material impact on global climate indicators through 2100.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is actually an endangerment finding, namely that there is none.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the alluded to argument:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026.the Obama EPA found that carbon dioxide emissions emitted from automobiles \u2013 in combination with five other gases, some of which vehicles don\u2019t even emit \u2013 contribute an unknown amount to greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere that, in turn, play a role through varied causal chains that may endanger human health and welfare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The several scientific issues here are the reality of the \u201cvaried causal chains\u201d claimed in the Obama endangerment finding. These causal issues include a great deal of alarmism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As science, the endangerment finding is a complex attribution claim, and these are highly speculative and contentious. These causal chain issues may be elaborated in the technical support documents for the repeal. But if they are at least mentioned, as in the release, it creates a placeholder for them, in case they come up during the SCOTUS arguments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EPA has mounted some elegant arguments for repeal of the endangerment finding. Stay tuned to CFACT as this drama unfolds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPA\u2019s arguments for repealing the Obama endangerment finding are simple, clear, and strong. So, they have a likely chance of winning in the Supreme Court (SCOTUS), which is where the final decision will be made.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":426222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691831408,691829997,691818424,691818056,691833596,691833292,691818463,691835093,691841518],"class_list":["post-427141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-automobiles","tag-carbon-dioxide-co","tag-clean-air-act","tag-climate-change","tag-endangerment-finding-ef","tag-epa-environmental-protection-agency","tag-ghg-emissions","tag-obama-administration","tag-supreme-court-scotus","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1N7n","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":427384,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=427384","url_meta":{"origin":427141,"position":0},"title":"Climate and Energy Experts Praise Trump\u2019s Endangerment Finding Repeal","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/22\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and President Trump have rescinded the greenhouse gas Endangerment Finding for vehicles.\u00a0Climate Realism\u00a0has long maintained that carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, and we applaud this decision.","rel":"","context":"In \"American Energy Institute\"","block_context":{"text":"American Energy Institute","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=american-energy-institute"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-353.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-353.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-353.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-353.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-353.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":426214,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=426214","url_meta":{"origin":427141,"position":1},"title":"Trump Administration Ends Obama-Era Climate Finding, Repeals Vehicle GHG Standards","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/14\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"On February 12, 2026, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under Administrator Lee Zeldin and alongside President Trump, finalized a major rule that revokes the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, a landmark Obama-era determination that greenhouse gases (GHGs) like carbon dioxide endanger public health and welfare. 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