Audrey Streb
DCNF Energy Reporter
Several Democrats framed the Trump administration’s repeal of a cornerstone climate regulation on Thursday as a move that will allow pollution to sweep the nation.
The Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined Thursday that the Obama-era regulation known as the Endangerment Finding extended beyond congressional authority. President Donald Trump announced that repealing the finding amounted to the “largest deregulatory action in American history,” and noted that the action is expected to save Americans on new vehicle costs and other related
Former President Barack Obama said on Thursday in response that without the EPA holding the ability to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, “we’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change — all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.”
Several more Democrats that have either supported or enacted harsh climate regulations allowed by the finding aired their grievances on social media following the announcement, including Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, former Vice President Al Gore, Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, former Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, among others.
Newsom declared that California would soon “fight this lawless action in court.” (RELATED: Obama Whines On Internet After Watching Trump Kill His Climate Legacy)
Donald Trump’s administration is falsely claiming that greenhouse gases are not a threat to public health — breaking the law to once again grovel to the oil industry.
California will fight this lawless action in court. https://t.co/eBl3zoys0Y
— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) February 12, 2026
Notably, Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced on Thursday that the finding was used to allow a de facto national electric vehicle (EV) mandate, led by California. After congress passed multiple resolutions in 2025, Trump officially dismantled the de facto EV mandate on June 12.
Make Pollution Great Again https://t.co/ml1F1hU8cG
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) February 12, 2026
The Trump EPA has fully abandoned its duty to protect the American people from greenhouse gas pollution and climate change.
The only winners today are Trump’s fossil fuel megadonors.https://t.co/XSXBliNHfh
— Senate EPW Democrats (@EPWCmte) February 12, 2026
The Trump Administration is once again trying to deny science and reality – this time, by throwing out the well-established research connecting the climate crisis to public health.
While the Trump Administration can try to ignore the climate crisis, it’s painfully clear that the…
— Al Gore (@algore) February 12, 2026
Gore has a history of citing climate change proclamations that were later shown to be false, Fox News notes. The former vice president became a prominent public voice on the issue, especially after his failed 2000 presidential run and the release of the influential 2006 documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” which featured Gore’s views on climate change.
This shameful abdication—an economic, moral, and political failure—will harm Americans’ health, homes, and economic well-being.
It ignores scientific fact and common-sense observations to serve big political donors. https://t.co/xEpUJk1Haf
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) February 12, 2026
The Trump EPA has abandoned its duty to protect the American people from greenhouse gas pollution and climate change devastation.
As climate change drives up insurance premiums, grocery prices, energy costs, and health care spending, American families will be left holding the… pic.twitter.com/971mA54CGh
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) February 12, 2026
🚨 This is another win for Big Oil and other big polluters at the expense of everyone else.
Instead of giving polluters a free ride, we should pass my Polluters Pay bill to make them — not all of us — pay the bill for the huge amount of damage they’ve caused.… pic.twitter.com/9gOW6eFObC
— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) February 13, 2026
The president is overruling science to eliminate measures that protect us from pollution and environmental damage, mainly to benefit multinational corporations that have thrown money at his campaign, ballroom, and family.
It’s simple corruption, and it will cost American lives… pic.twitter.com/fzY4y8Nz7Z
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) February 12, 2026
Catastrophic wildfires, flooding, and hurricanes will not pause for politics, and the @EPA has again abandoned its mission to protect the environment.
Trump has given polluters a free pass at the expense of the health and welfare of the American people.
This must be stopped… https://t.co/uni7irsW9n
— Adam Schiff (@SenAdamSchiff) February 12, 2026
The Trump EPA estimated that repealing the finding would save American taxpayers over $1 trillion dollars. Several energy policy experts and agency insiders previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation the finding was politicized, relied on “cherry-picked data” and that its elimination will benefit consumer choice.
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“The Trump EPA has fully abandoned its duty to protect the American people from greenhouse gas pollution and climate change.”
Oh thank goodness.
it takes a real moron to believe that plant food, which sustains all life on earth, is somehow a pollutant
Story Tip: the climate forward newsletter of the NYT is a target rich environment for rebuttal They say that benefits claimed for CO2 have been debunked The NYT is a major purveyor of climate nonsense and should be refuted at every opportunity Challenge the people who are writing the articles directly.
Hard to square with the duty to protect US Navy Submariners from greenhouse gas “pollution” routinely on the order of 20 X what’s in the atmosphere… And they let them carry nuclear missiles in an atmosphere of around 8,000 ppmv or so, for months at a time. Obviously the US Navy doesn’t consider it pollution. Ask one of those idiots what they think of that.
The Dems howling about “public health” are ardent supporters of abortion (70 million deaths over the last 50 years), sex trait modification of children (unprecedented butchery), designer diseases brewed in govt labs, poison jabs to ostensibly treat the manufactured diseases, bans on medicines that actually cure, cocktails of untested vaccines forced on babies and toddlers, riots, arson, and other public violence, squandering and graft of public funds, and a host of other menaces to public health.
The two-faced hypocrisy is nauseating, especially considering that CO2 is not a health problem at all but in fact a boon to life.
All good points.
I remember when they were against genital mutilation before they were for it, when they knew men and women were different and were a physical, not a social construct.
It’s amazing how fast African tribal female genital mutilation went from crime against humanity to mandatory for both sexes.
“We have always been at war with Eastasia.”
It’s not enough to claim 5 fingers. You have to BELIEVE there are 5 fingers.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard defiantly states that “there are four lights” while being tortured.
This constant harping on the idea that the only alternative to fighting climate change is to enrich the oil companies shows how little real reason there is to fight climate change. Is that really the best bogeyman they can come up with? Obama never has outgrown his community organizer gig, but good grief, you’d think they’d have come up with something better by now. No wonder the public is getting tired of climate change alarmism.
More small oil/gas companies means more people getting rich. GOOD! And there is nothing wrong with the climate, actual human being know this, leftarded morons simply lie about the climate, weather and environment.
That is precisely what they are against. The last thing the alarmist elite wants are prosperous, informed subjects, because then they wouldn’t be–subjects, that is.
‘The last thing the alarmist elite wants are prosperous, informed and armed subjects, because then they wouldn’t be–subjects.’
A slight modification for your kind consideration.
A proper correction indeed.
The actual intent of the right to bear arms Amendment.
He plays to the room, and the room in question does not consist of the sharpest tools in the shed.
We certainly can’t stand others becoming wealthy.
this show s the proportionality of why it had to go
https://edmhdotme.wpcomstaging.com/minimal-future-warming-from-co2-ch4-n2o/
If Gavin Newsom and the Democrats in the California legislature weren’t just putting on a virtue-signaling kabuke theater show in criticizing the EPA’s cancellation of the endangerment finding, they would be taking steps in their state to directly ration consumption of gasoline, diesel, and natural gas in California; to drastically reduce the number of airline flights into and out of California’s major airports; and to put a stiff tax on every mile driven by all of California’s registered vehicles. Are any of these people honest enough in their convictions to walk the talk of their climate hysteria?
The once great state of Commifornia is a national leader; in fuel and energy prices, homelessness, the number on welfare, and wealth disparity. Why anyone would want Gov. Newscum for president escapes me entirely.
I guess he sounds and looks just like his hair; really slick!
Right on, abolition man. However, Governor Newsome has figured out a way to fix the wealth disparity problem: The impending Billionaire Tax has the Billionaires fleeing en masse. Disparity no more! Wait, who will pay taxes so the Gov can get his hair styled every other day?
Every other day? That coiffure requires constant attention. Think The Fonz and the mirror.
“Every other day? That coiffure requires constant attention. Think The Fonz and the mirror.”
Gavin Newsom remains the odds-on favorite to become the Democrat’s nominee in the next presidential election cycle. My opinion is that he is in fact the Chosen One and that the 2028 spring primaries will be nothing but scripted theater with Newsom crowned as Blue Nominee King in the summer of 2028. And so he hasn’t yet jumped the shark in his political career. Far from it.
One can only hope. His record makes him an easy target in any debate, say with JD Vance, or any of the likely opposition. Jumped the Shark? Jumped by the shark, more like. His GQ image is about all he has going for him.
And the love of a majority of Californians.
No one ever said that the majority of Californians are particularly high voltage. Luckily they are essentially irrelevant.
His mannerisms like throwing his hands and arms around annoy the heck out of me. I can’t stand even a picture of him and mute him if he shows up on a video. Ugh. What a waster. He scolded and insulted Texas at a press conference the other day when Texas finally saw reason and stopped their high speed rail. Ah, how many miles of track has been laid by California and costs are over 100 billion from 16 at the start some decade ago. I read BIG ZERO track. A debacle only a democrat could love. Does Newscum not realize video and digital can be forever? I’m looking forward to what surfaces if this liar tries to run for President. Hopefully the corporate media whores will be dead and buried by then. There is a good start going on. He does realize his corporate and billionaire class and energy sources are running TO Texas as I write this? Doesn’t he. But in liberal world, it’s black is white, blah blah.
What appears to us as Gavin Newsom’s strong political liabilities are being viewed by the progressive left and by the national leadership of the Democratic Party as his strong political assets.
The Democratic Party is a centrally-managed private organization. In my humble opinion as a long-time observer of national politics, Gavin Newsom has already been chosen by the party’s central leadership as the Democrat’s 2028 nominee for president. See my response to Mark Whitney here.
Don’t forget the dinner out during the COVID lockdown with his favorite lobbytist at the French Laundry.
“His mannerisms like throwing his hands and arms around annoy the heck out of me…”
The best description of his flailing appendages I’ve ever heard was, “He looks like he’s negotiating with a deaf prostitute.” 😎
Gavin fought the oil companies in California and the result was the most expensive fuel costs in the continental US. He is running for POTUS so that the entire country can pay over $5/gal for gasoline.
In the UK we’re paying waaayy over that already!
In Wyoming I bought gas today at 2.40 per gallon.
I take it that’s USD and US gallons?
Here in Denmark I recently paid around (US)$8/USG! 🇩🇰 🇺🇦
I got a couple of tanks for ~$1.80/gal a few weeks ago. The lowest price in the Denver area now is ~$2.15/gal.
I’m surprised the alarmists aren’t out protesting cheap gas!
The cheap gas is mostly in places where there are not many alarmists.
I’d be in a red state but for a giant blue boil attached to the arse end of Lake Michigan.
For a minute I was thinking Detroit. Similar sore, different lake.
Gretchen Whitmer? 😅🤣
2.37 in a wisconsin town near me yesterday.
Even the states bordering Gavinland are worried about the energy economics/policy illiteracy in California. The power of Mordor is spreading to middle earth.
GN is a political opportunist who will do whatever to get the majority of votes….like most politicians…
The reaction by the Climate Cartel to the dismantling of the illegal, anti-Constitutional irrational and anti-science based Endangerment Finding is as predictable as it is amusing. They are screaming nothing but spittle-flecked lies. The question is, why do they hate America so much?
They so want a transition to a communist state. Individual achievement is to be despised. The collective rules, although in their inherent hypocrisy, they wish to rule the collective.
The American Bolsheviks should be happy. We may start following China’s lead in coal powered electricity.
We should. The US is the “Saudi Arabia of Coal,” and coal is best for baseload power since it can be easily and safely stockpiled.
The estimate savings look correct (the benefit to insist looks instead almost null)
US Democrats: Make Alarmism Great Again.
I see what you did there.
And they’ll put that on blue hats.
+20
Perhaps these whiners should get behind nuclear power — safe, clean, cheap and reliable.
Three Mile Island reopening to fuel energy-intensive AI boom
HARRISBURG, PA (AP) – The owner of the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant said Friday that it plans to restart the reactor under a 20-year agreement that calls for tech giant Microsoft to buy the power to supply its data centers with carbon-free energy.
https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/three-mile-island-ai-boom
I remain strongly suspicious that Microsoft and other AI promoters are locking up contractual access rights to both new-build and legacy generation capacity — access rights which will be resold to other power consumers attached to the grid at a profit in lieu of income from data center operations.
Yes. But not that “carbon free” matters or should be a criteria for selection of generation types.
Where is AOC on this?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iZF4GAZCUdE
AOC is in LaLa Land on just about everything. Her thought process is about as incoherent as Kamala Harris, although AOC has much better verbal skills (an accomplished distorter of the facts).
AOC really embarrassed herself at the European Security Conference this week. Now the Europeans see what we have to deal with. The Europeans gave Secretary of State, Rubio, a standing ovation after his speech. I think they liked his message more than AOC’s incoherent view of the world.
William Ruckelshaus was the first Director of the EPA. He was a life-long politician and lawyer, and he had no scientific or technical education or professional background before having become the Director. When it came time to decide the endangerment decision, he essentially ignored the several expert scientists who eviscerated Rachel Carson’s (and others’) hysterical claims with facts and the scientific method during the Congressional hearings.
Hmm. I am afraid Ruckelshaus was not the Director when the EF was issued (2009). Lisa Jackson was. You are correct that he was the first EPA Director.
That’d be about DDT as opposed to CO2. But another tragic example of what happens when decisions are made based on junk science and hyperbole.
William Ruckelshaus was the first Director of the EPA. He was a life-long politician and lawyer, and he had no scientific or technical education or professional background before having become the Director. When it came time to decide the endangerment decision, he essentially ignored the several expert scientists who eviscerated Rachel Carson’s (and others’) hysterical claims with facts and the scientific method during the Congressional hearings.
Why the double post of your comment? The moderator must be asleep at his terminal.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!! I voted for THIS!!!!!!!!!
… three times (three general/Novenmber elections). Six (incl 2024 primary) times if you count primaries …
Lee Zeldin was grinning from ear to ear!
Me, too!
I heard yesterday that owing to EPA regulations (before the/this ‘finding’ was rescinded), upcoming mileage figures for automobiles were spec’d to be around 65 MPG.
To put this in perspective, in the late 1990’s I had a Honda Nitehawk CB650 motorcycle (and no windscreen) that achieved 50 MPG … a motorcycle; considerably less frontal area/wind resistance (and weight) than a (presumed) EPA mileage compliant car that would have had to meet a 65 MPG requirement.
Which as we all know would never happen. Less cars, more plastic in them…more dead in simple fender benders. Sounds like a plan only Dems and simple minded libs would want…but wait! The 15 minute cities could then happen…disgusting, those idiots. collectivist freaks, all of them.
CAFE “standards” were just the EPA Trojan Horse to legislate the internal combustion engine out of existence without the approval of the governed.
And force worse-than-useless EVs on people.
Unfortunately politics made the finding, politics rescinded it, and politics can reinstate it. We’ve entered a whipsaw period where division rules over common sense. Fortunately the benefit this time around should convince people to stay the course.
Of the 8 billion now living on this planet, the EPA Endangerment Finding only applied to the 340 million that live in the USA, i.e., it applied to only 4% of the 8 billion people on the planet. Shockingly, 80% of the 8 billion on this planet, or more than 6 billion, are living on less than $10/day.
For the other 96% of those living in poverty on this planet, the worse form of air pollution is indoor air pollution, caused by poor people burning coal, wood, dung, candles, and paraffin in badly ventilated shacks, often without chimneys.
More than 3 million people living in poverty die prematurely each year from illnesses caused by indoor air pollution. These deaths are primarily linked to cooking with polluting fuels, resulting in respiratory infections, strokes, heart disease, and lung cancer.
Yep. The IEA note that 730m people still live without electricity and nearly 2 billion, 25% of the global population, rely on cooking methods that are detrimental to human health.
IEA ‘World Energy Outlook 2025’ (Nov. 2025)
I agree this is a problem and that fossil fuel generated electricity is far better, but I do question where the numbers of “premature deaths” come from.
If it’s another “model” study, then it’s problematic though far less so than the complete bullshit “PM 2.5” garbage.
Well, the obvious solution these worried folks need to pursue is to formulate a law that requires EPA to regulate CO2 emissions and has clear limits on adverse weather events. When the Obama EPA put the recently rescinded endangerment finding into effect they knew they didn’t have the evidence to support their actions and they knew they had ignored multiple laws and rules to get their way. Do it right this time and show those of us who are applauding the recission how it is done. These folks that rammed the endangerment finding through are the same ones that killed the DOE Climate Report group for getting a signature too late.
And wrote the Koyota Accords.
Clearly “the Science” says the the government can and must control the weather.
The one ring to rule them all was just cast into the advocacy fires from which it was forged. Confusion and chaos are great to see at this point.
Truly time to have a beer, not to celebrate, just to have a good time.
Keep on melting down leftards 😁
We’ll be knee deep in toys that have been thrown from prams for the next year or so.
The only reason these mongrels get away with this kind of crap is because we allow it. We need to get in their face and force them to make their case formally and in public. I think they wouldn’t stand a chance.
I have to laugh at the alarmists’ reaction after the Trump actions. According to them, everything that adversely affects Americans in particular and humanity in general is due to inadequate climate action. Health, welfare, living costs, agricultural productivity, grocery prices, wildfires, violent storms, mental stability—you name it and excessive fossil fuel consumption is responsible. What they fail to realize is that the majority of not just Americans but also all people want stability in their energy and food supplies and the forced adoption of renewables won’t come close to providing them.
It ain’t over. Congress could act. The repeal of the Endangerment Finding (EF) on February 12, 2026, marks the most significant shift in U.S. environmental policy in decades. While it effectively “unplugs” the federal government’s primary mandate to regulate greenhouse gases (GHGs) under the Clean Air Act, the momentum of climate-related action is unlikely to vanish.
Instead of disappearing, the movement is shifting into a “guerilla warfare” phase characterized by aggressive state-level mandates and a new wave of high-stakes litigation. Here is the case for why “climate alarmism”—or at least the regulatory and legal framework surrounding it—will persist.
1. The “State-Led” Backstop
The removal of federal authority does not nullify state authority. In fact, it often triggers it. Blue states have already begun constructing a “regulatory wall” to bypass federal rollbacks:
Waivers and Independent Standards: California, joined by a coalition of over 20 states representing more than 50% of the U.S. population, continues to enforce its own vehicle emission standards. By the time federal repeals take full effect, many manufacturers will already have moved toward these state-mandated benchmarks to maintain access to these massive markets.
State “Green Amendments”: States like New York, Pennsylvania, and Montana have “Green Amendments” in their constitutions that grant citizens a right to a clean environment. These are being used to sue for climate action at the state level, where federal deregulation holds no sway.
Interstate Compacts: Groups like the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) continue to operate cap-and-trade programs for power plants, effectively maintaining a carbon price in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regardless of the EPA’s stance.
2. The Rise of “State Tort” Litigation
Ironically, repealing the EF may have opened a legal “Pandora’s Box.” Previously, federal law often preempted (blocked) state-level lawsuits against oil companies because the EPA was already “handling” the issue via the EF.
Jurisdictional Shift: Without a federal regulatory framework, the argument for federal preemption weakens. Legal experts suggest that 2026 will see an explosion of state-level tort claims (nuisance, failure to warn, and consumer deception) against energy companies.
Current Precedent: In early 2026, California and Hawaii courts have already allowed climate-related lawsuits against “Big Oil” to proceed, rejecting industry attempts to dismiss them. These cases seek billions in “climate damages,” keeping the issue in the headlines and on corporate balance sheets.
3. The “Chevron” and “Major Questions” Shield
While the end of Chevron deference (via Loper Bright) and the Major Questions Doctrine were used to strike down the EF, they also create a “litigation treadmill”:
Death by a Thousand Injunctions: Every attempt by the new administration to deregulate will be met with lawsuits from environmental groups (like the NRDC and Sierra Club). These groups argue that even without the EF, other parts of the Clean Air Act still require action.
Stare Decisis: The Supreme Court has previously upheld the EF in Massachusetts v. EPA. While the current administration has repealed it administratively, the legal “Best Interpretation” of the original statutes remains a point of intense litigation that will take years to resolve.
Summary of the “Alarmism” Persistence
The “alarmism” will continue because the infrastructure of climate action has decentralized. What was once a single federal “on/off switch” (the Endangerment Finding) has been replaced by:
Within a year, the “chaos” of a fragmented regulatory landscape may prove just as pervasive as the federal mandates it replaced.