Washington, DC, 11 February (H.S.): President Donald Trump is poised to demolish a pivotal Obama-era scientific determination on Thursday, February 12, 2026, when he joins EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to formally rescind the 2009 endangerment finding that classified six greenhouse gases—including carbon dioxide and methane—as threats to public health and welfare via climate change.

This seismic deregulatory salvo, previewed by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on February 10, promises to liberate Americans from $1.3 trillion in crushing regulations, instantly nullifying federal vehicle emissions standards while imperiling broader mandates on power plant CO2 and oilfield methane—stemming from the 2007 Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts v.EPA that compelled the agency's initial probe.

The administration's rationale, crystallized in a summer 2025 proposal amid over 500,000 public comments, posits greenhouse gases defy traditional pollutant paradigms through indirect, global impacts unmitigated by U.S.-only curbs; it further impugns anthropogenic climate change's severity via a now-disbanded Energy Department skeptic panel's report, lambasted for mischaracterizing peer-reviewed science.

Democratic governors Gavin Newsom and Tony Evers decried the maneuver on February 10 as unlawful and science-denying, vowing unyielding resistance, while advocates like the Natural Resources Defense Council's Meredith Hankins forecast courtroom evisceration of the EPA's slapdash jurisprudence—highlighting omitted benefits from fuel savings, health safeguards, and climate mitigation against touted regulatory relief.

As auto prices soar post-pandemic, Trump's fossil fuel fealty—eschewing China's EV ascendancy—ushers an epochal pivot, igniting legal tempests nationwide.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar