At Last! Hoorah!
Robert W. Endlich
INTRODUCTION
On 15 December 2009, during the Obama Administration, the EPA issued, in Volume 4 of the Federal Register, on page 66518, a rule, based on Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act, stating that human greenhouse gas emissions of CO2 caused environmental and human endangerment.
In the years since, various individuals and organizations have published posts and articles attempting to persuade authorities to undo this rule. Here are some of their attempts:
The Heartland Institute has these posts on this topic.
A group of authors with Dr. James P. Wallace III as lead author posted this article “On the Existence of a ‘Tropical Hot Spot and The Validity of EPA’s CO2 Endangerment Finding.’” They also published on uncorrupted Temperature Records containing natural cycles, and “A Critical Look at Surface Temperature Records.”
In Testimony before the House of Representatives in 2017, Dr John Christy of the University of Alabama Huntsville showed that despite the EPA’s 2009 claims of veracity of computer models, he showed that computer models of the atmosphere displaying rapid warming after 1995 are fundamentally flawed. Measurements of Radiosonde Balloon Temperature sensors, satellite radiance temperature estimates, and “Re-Analysis” plots, using actual measurement data, showed no such warming.
THE ENDANGERMENT FINDING
A Summary below is from Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded in 2009 that carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare, underpinning CO2 emissions rules for cars, power plants, and industry.
“Research by Stanford environmental scientist Chris Field and colleagues shows evidence for climate change’s damaging impacts – such as food insecurity, mass migration, and health problems – has only grown since the finding was established.”
“The endangerment finding is the foundation for regulation of greenhouse gases at the federal level,”
Field said.
“It is not the government’s only tool for tackling climate change, but it is key to a balanced program with both carrots and sticks.”
From the above,
“It is not the government’s only tool for tackling climate change…”
implies that Government can and should impose our will to control the climate.
Stanford University and its Woods Institute go right along with the notions stated below of the Climate Alarmists, viz:
“Climate never changed before I became of age, therefore…”
“Climate when I came of age was perfect. All climate change after I came of age is harmful to the world.”
The Government of the USA has a duty to keep the climate from changing and keep sea levels from rising….
Moreover, the Government of the USA has a duty to lead the world to keep global climate from changing.
“Everyone knows that <our, meaning USA’s> emissions of CO2 are the direct cause of Global Warming…Therefore, we as the learned people, have the duty to prevent emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere.”
Alarmists frequently say, “Carbon is the Enemy” (this, from human beings, carbon-based life forms!)
MORE BACKGROUND INFORMATION
There are at least two methodologies that might have been used to rescind the Obama-Era Endangerment Finding which held that carbon dioxide emissions from use of fossil fuels endangered human health and therefore needed to be tightly regulated. These were the scientific methodology, and the legal methodology.
For several years we in CASF have contended that the Obama-Era Endangerment Finding was flawed because it violated common sense and basic science.
An example is item 9 on the New Visitors section of the Web Site. Among other things, it shows how Government Agencies have changed previously measured temperatures, tendentiously cooling the past and warming the present, which was intended to increase the apparent rate of warming. This is detestable, horrible, and akin to lying under oath.
Here is another article, this one, from 2019: https://casf.me/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/EPA_Endangerment_Finding_is_Wrong_20_Apr_2019.pdf
Some seven months into President Trump’s second term, on 1 August 2025, EPA published a proposed rule titled, “Reconsideration of 2009 Endangerment Finding and Greenhouse Gas Vehicle Standards.”
On 21 August 2025 this writer submitted pertinent comments to Regulations.gov. The text of those comments is on the web site at, https://casf.me/comment-on-critical-review-of-impacts-of-greenhouse-gas-emissions-on-the-u-s-climate.
The efforts above are what I call the Scientific Grounds for Recession of the Endangerment Finding.
However, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin chose the below Legal Methodology for Recession. In short, he says EPA Can’t enforce the Endangerment Finding because Congress did not authorize the Executive Branch to do so. This is the link announcing the recession: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/president-trump-and-administrator-zeldin-deliver-single-largest-deregulatory-action-us .
Those efforts brought forth fruit…
On 12 Feb 2026, the Trump EPA Admin Eliminated the Obama-Era Endangerment Finding, including “off-cycle credits” and the widely detested start-stop feature for vehicle engines., where the engine quits as the vehicle stops, at a stop sign or stop light. Among the most important statements in the Trump EPA press release:
“Alongside President Trump in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history.”
“In this final rule, EPA is saving American taxpayers over $1.3 trillion, eliminating both the Obama-era 2009 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Endangerment Finding and all subsequent federal GHG emission standards for all vehicles and engines of model years 2012 to 2027 and beyond.”
“The action also eliminates all off-cycle credits, including for the almost universally hated start-stop feature. EPA’s historic move restores consumer choice, makes more affordable vehicles available for American families, and decreases the cost of living on all products by lowering the cost of trucks, federal GHG emission standards for all vehicles and engines of model years 2012 to 2027 and beyond.”
“The Endangerment Finding enabled the Obama and Biden Administrations’ illegal push toward EV mandates. These mandates pressure the vehicle industry to phase down production of various models of traditional gasoline and diesel trucks and to reengineer their fleets towards uneconomic and infeasible electric technologies.”
OFF-CYCLE CREDIT FOR VEHICLE START-STOP FEATURE ELIMINATED
“…U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin eliminated the off-cycle credit that was used to implement the almost universally hated start-stop feature in American vehicles.”
“The Obama and Biden Administrations also used the Endangerment Finding to support off-cycle credits to forcibly incentivize automakers into adopting unpopular systems, undermining consumer choice. An off-cycle credit is a government-created concept that let auto manufacturers meet federal GHG standards on paper, by adding features like the almost universally hated start-stop feature, resulting in questionable emission reductions. Automakers should not be forced to adopt or rewarded for technologies that are merely a climate participation trophy with no material benefit.”
“The Trump EPA chooses consumer choice over posturing to climate change zealots every time. Today’s announcement ends all off-cycle credits, eliminates EPA incentives for the start-stop button, and restores consumer choice.”
“Referred to by some as the ‘Holy Grail’ of the ‘climate change religion,’ the Endangerment Finding is now eliminated. The Trump EPA is strictly following the letter of the law, returning commonsense to policy, delivering consumer choice to Americans and advancing the American Dream. As EPA Administrator, I am proud to deliver the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history on behalf of American taxpayers and consumers. As an added bonus, the off-cycle credit for the almost universally despised start-stop feature on vehicles has been removed.”
COMMENT
Off-Cycle Credits were smoke-and-mirror efforts to lie to consumers and the public at large. I hope it is gone for good.
“In finalizing this rule, EPA carefully considered and reevaluated the legal foundation of the 2009 Endangerment Finding and the text of the Clean Air Act (CAA) in light of subsequent legal developments and court decisions. The 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’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.”
CLIMATE ALARMISTS IN THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA WERE UPSET AT THIS NEWS, SOME EVEN FURIOUS.
An Associated Press article on Secretary Zeldin’s presentation to the Heartland Institute’s Washington DC Meeting on 8 and 9 April 2026, a meeting I attended in person, showed obvious contempt for Secretary Zeldin’s message:
“The head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday defended his decision to repeal the legal determination that serves as the basis for federal rules to slow climate change, telling a gathering of climate change skeptics they should “celebrate vindication.”
“EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin made the remarks in the keynote address at a conference hosted by the Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank that rejects mainstream climate science and what it calls “climate alarmism.”
It is obvious from this AP story that their own internal interpretation of “mainstream climate science” is much more important than a careful examination of widespread sources of facts, measurements, observations and data. These are skills which seem to be lacking from their Journalism School academic schooling and subsequent on-the-job investigations. There seems to be little critical thinking and a paucity of careful analyses of these data, which should have been done before sitting at the keyboard.
But it gets worse. Here is the next, from the Los Angeles Times:
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- “Rejecting science, Trump reverses conclusion that climate change is harming Americans”
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- The Trump administration has repealed the 2009 endangerment finding on greenhouse gases, eliminating the foundation of much of U.S. climate policy.
- The decision reverses decades of environmental progress despite overwhelming scientific evidence and opposition from health experts, environmental groups, 50 cities and nearly two dozen states.
- Experts warn the repeal will increase pollution, respiratory disease and planet-warming emissions over the coming decades.
Regarding the latter, claims that emissions of CO2 definitely are “planet-warming emissions,” do not seem so certain when relevant time series of data are examined.
CONCLUSIONS
During the Obama Presidential Administration, on 15 December 2009, the EPA issued the “Endangerment Finding,” stating that human greenhouse gas emissions of CO2 caused environmental damage and endangerment to humans.
The 2026 EPA Administrator, Lee Zeldin, in Recission of the Endangerment Finding, on 12 Feb 2026, eliminated the Obama-Era Endangerment Finding, including “off-cycle credits” and a widely detested “start-stop feature” for motor vehicle engines.
Many opponents of the Endangerment Finding, including members of CASF, cited Scientific Grounds for recession, using Physical, Chemical, Meteorological, and analyses of failed computer projections cited in the original finding published in Volume 4 of the Federal Register, on Page 66518.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin with his legal background, used the Legal Methodology for Recession. In short, he said EPA could not enforce the Endangerment Finding because Congress did not authorize the Executive Branch to do so. In short, this action is believed to save over $1.3 trillion in needless expense to US families.
For us with more of a scientific and technical background, Recession of the Endangerment Finding is a welcome relief from government-imposed stupidity in the marketplace.