2009 Endangerment Finding Repealed

On Feb. 18, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency repealed the 2009 Endangerment Finding, a science and evidence-based standard for regulating greenhouse gas pollution under the Clean Air Act. The change eliminates federal greenhouse gas standards for vehicles and could trigger broader rollbacks affecting power plants and major industrial sources, and could undermine much of the federal government’s authority to regulate climate pollution. Legal challenges to the rollback have already been filed and more are expected in the coming months. As many of these pollution sources are also polluters of drinking water sources, we’ll be closely monitoring these legal cases and future actions by EPA that may weaken water quality protections.