EPA Proposes To Rescind Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding

On Aug. 1, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") published a proposed rule in which it proposes to rescind the 2009 Endangerment Finding and repeal all greenhouse gas ("GHG") emission standards that have been issued for light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles under the Clean Air Act ("CAA"). This proposal represents a significant change in EPA policy and the potential future of numerous CAA regulatory schemes.

The Endangerment Finding was a final rule published in 2009 by the Obama administration in which EPA concluded that a combination of six key GHGs "endanger both the public health and the public welfare of current and future generations." It was intended to provide a basis for EPA's regulation of motor vehicles and engines pursuant to Section 202(a)(1) of the CAA, which authorizes EPA to regulate emissions or air pollutants from motor vehicles and engines that cause or contribute to "air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to