US repeals key 'endangerment finding' that climate change is a public threat

"The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has revoked the 'endangerment finding', a cornerstone of the nation's efforts to curb emissions of planet-heating greenhouse gases. Its reversal means that for the first time in 17 years, the EPA will no longer consider greenhouse gases a threat to public health and welfare. EPA head Lee Zeldin said the move would save the United States money by removing excess regulations, but critics say it will put even more lives at risk as climate change intensifies."

"Federal law requires the EPA to make decisions based on the best available science, but today's action is "is a rejection of the most basic laws of physics", says Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London and head of the World Weather Attribution project, which studies the links between extreme weather and human-caused climate change. "There is no legitimate scientific rationale" for the EPA decision, says Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University in College Station."

The EPA revoked the 2009 endangerment finding, removing the legal basis that classified greenhouse gases as a threat to public health and welfare. The agency is using the repeal to roll back vehicle emissions rules and may apply the change to other sectors such as power plants. Estimates indicate ending vehicle regulations alone will add billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere in coming decades. Federal law requires decisions to follow the best available science, and climate scientists called the move a rejection of basic physics with no legitimate scientific rationale. Environmental groups are expected to challenge the action in court, potentially reaching the Supreme Court.

Read at Nature