Lights On, Red Tape Off: Inside the Biggest Deregulation Play in U.S. History

The Trump administration is preparing a sweeping rollback of U.S. climate regulation by revoking the EPA’s 2009 endangerment finding. That determination has underpinned federal limits on greenhouse gases for more than a decade. Officials say ending it would slash regulatory costs, ease energy prices, and prioritize reliability amid grid strain. Critics warn it would weaken federal climate oversight.

  • The Environmental Protection Agency, under Administrator Lee Zeldin, plans to revoke the 2009 “endangerment finding.”
  • The finding, finalized during the Barack Obama administration, declared six greenhouse gases a threat to public health and enabled broad climate regulation under the Clean Air Act.
  • Repeal would remove the legal foundation for many federal greenhouse-gas regulations, though it would not immediately cancel all existing emissions rules.
  • The rollback could be announced this week and is described by Zeldin as “the largest act of deregulation in U.S. history.”
  • President Donald Trump ordered a review of the finding on his first day back in office; officials estimate potential regulatory cuts approaching $1 trillion.
  • Administration officials argue deregulation will lower energy costs, support grid reliability, and counter recent winter grid stress in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
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