Government officials revoke scientific finding with 'direct threat' to public health: 'We will see them in court'

The Environmental Protection Agency just threw out its own scientific conclusion that heat-trapping pollution is dangerous to people, removing the legal backbone of most U.S. policies that target the planet's overheating, NBC News reported.

What happened?

On Thursday, the White House announced that the EPA was scrapping the endangerment finding, as it's called. That 2009 determination said carbon dioxide, methane, and other planet-warming gases put people's health and well-being at risk, both now and for generations to come. It gave the agency authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate this type of pollution from cars, power plants, and factories.

The president called it "a disastrous Obama-era policy" with "no basis in fact." The White House labeled the repeal "the largest deregulatory action in American history."

The EPA is eliminating all vehicle pollution standards for heat-trapping gases, too.

Why is the EPA's reversal concerning?

The 2009 finding grew out of a 2007 Supreme Court decision that said the dangers of the warming planet are "serious and well recognized." Without it, the federal government loses its primary tool for limiting the pollution that drives temperatures higher.

This reversal fits into a pattern of rollbacks. The United States exited the Paris Agreement again last month, its second departure from the accord. The Trump administration cut close to $8 billion in clean energy funding in October, and a court found that certain cuts were illegal, NBC News reported. The Energy Department just committed $175 million to prolong operations at six coal plants.

"The EPA's 2009 Endangerment Finding was grounded in this extensive body of research," the American Geophysical Union said in a statement, per NBC News. "The Trump Administration's decision to repeal this landmark scientific and legal determination — despite the overwhelming evidence — is a rejection of established science, a denial of the struggles we are facing today, and a direct threat to our collective future."

Every one of the past 11 years ranks among the hottest ever documented, according to the EU Copernicus Climate Change Service. 2025 marked the third-hottest year in recorded history.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama said that without the finding, Americans will be "less safe, less healthy, and less able to fight climate change — all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money."

What's being done about the EPA's reversal?

Both the American Lung Association and American Public Health Association have said they will file lawsuits. Years of litigation likely lie ahead.

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"It is unscientific, it is bad economics, and it is illegal, so we're going to fight it. We will see them in court," said Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

If you want to take action, contact your federal and state lawmakers and urge them to defend clean air protections. Back organizations such as the NRDC and American Lung Association that are leading the legal fight. The U.S. Climate Alliance, a coalition of governors led by California's Gavin Newsom and Wisconsin's Tony Evers, has pledged to keep reducing pollution at the state level.

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