The EPA 2009
Endangerment Finding
AT RISK OF REPEAL
RESTORE THE MISSION OF THE EPA
Photo: Arizona Mesa
THE IMPACT OF THE EPA
"We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of climate change religion . . . and the Green Energy scam!" The repeal of the 2009 Endangerment Finding and GHG emissions regulations
is "HIGHLY LIKELY" to accelerate irreversible climate change and adversely impact human health and the environment! |
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URGENT: EPA Notice of Public Hearing. SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a virtual public hearing to be held August 19 and 20, 2025, on its proposal for the ‘‘Reconsideration of 2009 Endangerment Finding and Greenhouse Gas Vehicle Standards,’’ which was signed on July 29, 2025. READ FULL NOTICE IN PDF:
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Miller, Office of Transportation and Air Quality, Assessment and Standards Division (ASD), Environmental Protection Agency, 2000 Traverwood Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48105; telephone number: (734) 214–4703; email address: [email protected].
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ORIGINS OF THE 2009 ENDANGERMENT FINDING
Public concern about the pervasive effects of pollution exploded after Rachel Carson published her hugely popular 1962 book Silent Spring on the dangers of DDT and other pesticides. By the late 1960s, the burgeoning middle class was discovering that environmental problems threatened their children, their property values, and their lifestyles. This was the foundation upon which the EPA and the Clean Air Act (CAA) of 1972 were established.
The Endangerment Finding grew out of a 1999 petition for rulemaking in which 19 private organizations called on EPA to regulate GHG emissions from new motor vehicles under CAA Section 202(a)(1). That statutory provision states that the EPA Administrator “shall” issue standards for air-pollutant emissions from new motor vehicles that “cause, or contribute to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.” The EPA confirmed that the science supporting the Endangerment Finding was “robust, voluminous, and compelling” in 2009. EPA also noted that the 2009 Endangerment Finding had “been strongly affirmed by recent scientific assessments,” including the assessments that supported the agency’s separate 2016 finding under CAA Section 231(a)(2)(A) that GHG emissions endanger public health or welfare. 
President Nixon signs the Clean Air Act of 1970 as William Ruckelshaus (left), head of the newly formed EPA, and Russell Train (right), chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, look on.
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Pedestrians walk the smog-choked streets of Los Angeles, September 1958. - Art Worden, Herald-Examiner Collection/Los Angeles Public Library
PROGRESS
After nearly a decade of lower court decisions, appeals, lawsuits by industry pollutants, and the evidence found in the EPA's 2009 Endangerment Finding that "air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated both to endanger public health and to endanger public welfare,” in 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the EPA's Endangerment Finding and affirmed the authority of EPA to regulate GHGs.
Over the next half-century, the law (including the 2009 Endangerment Finding and 30 subsequent regulations) would help reduce by nearly 70% the total emissions of six major pollutants—carbon monoxide, lead, ground-level ozone, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide—even as the U.S. population continued to grow and the country’s economy expanded. |
In 1965 only about a third of Americans surveyed agreed that air and water pollution were serious problems where they lived; by 1967 the figures passed 50%, and in 1970 they reached roughly 70%.
- Meir Rinde, WHYY in Philadelphia
RESOURCE LIBRARY
2009 Endangerment Finding: Select science resources & 2016 Supreme court opinions:
The 2009 Endangerment Finding rests on a mountain of scientific evidence, which has only grown stronger in subsequent years, including the information in these scientific studies and other documents. This document is a comprehensive reference guide in defense of the 2009 Endangerment Finding, the MA vs EPA Syllabus (original filing), the Majority Opinion by Justice Stevens, the Dissenting Opinions by Justices Robert and Scalia, and the Congressional Research Service Review for the U.S. Congress:
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PRIMARY DOCUMENTs:
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1. AGENCY: EPA. 2009 Endangerment Finding. U.S. EPA Archive Document, Climate Change Facts [No release date.]
3. AGENCY: EPA. Endangerment Finding One Pager [A Rebuttal], 2025 [No release date.]
5. AGENCY: EPA. Proposed Rule: Reconsideration of 2009 Endangerment Finding and Greenhouse Gas Vehicle Standards
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2. AGENCY: White House (2025). Unleashing American Energy, Executive Order, President Donald J. Trump. January 20, 2025
4. AGENCY: DOE. Climate Working Group (2025). A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate. Washington DC: Department of Energy, July 23, 2025
6. AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Proposed rule. Federal Register/Vol. 90, No. 146/Friday, August 1, 2025/Proposed Rules
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Scholarly reviews:
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7. NGO: Congressional Research Service (2025). EPA to Revisit Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding. Andrew S. Coghlan, Legislative Attorney, June 6, 2025
9. NGO: Environmental Law Institute, Environmental Law Reporter. Foundations of Endangerment Finding; July / August 2025.
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8. NGO: Harvard Law Review. Environmental and Energy Executive Orders: Initial Insights and What We’re Watching By Carrie Jenks and Sara Dewey, January 2025
10. NGO: Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). EPA’S Endangerment Finding: The Legal and Scientific Foundation for Cutting Climate-Changing Pollution, August 2025.
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