CEI Uses New White House Rule to Try to Undermine U.S. Climate Policy

"The group is targeting the EPA's "endangerment finding," the foundation for many of America’s policies curbing emissions from power plants and vehicles."

"Seizing a new opportunity they believe has been opened up by the White House, hard-line foes of climate action on Monday once again asked the Trump Administration to reverse the landmark Obama-era finding that greenhouse gases are a danger to human health and the environment.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a conservative Washington, D.C., think tank and steadfast ally of the fossil fuel industry, filed a petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), seeking to block the agency from continuing to use the so-called "endangerment finding" adopted by the agency in 2009 as a basis for policymaking.

The endangerment finding served as the foundation for most of President Barack Obama's climate agenda, providing the legal basis for his administration's actions to curb emissions from power plants and motor vehicles. The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in 2007 that the EPA had authority to regulate greenhouse gases as pollutants if it found that they were a danger to human health and the environment."

Marianne Lavelle reports for InsideClimate News May 13, 2019.

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"White House Memo May Threaten EPA Climate Finding, Analysts Say" (Bloomberg Environment)

Source: InsideClimate News, 05/14/2019