February 12, 2026
Do you think this endangers your health?
How about this?
Well – today President Trump and the environmental protection agency just wiped out a policy that’s been around for more than 15 years because he does not think that stuff endangers your health at all.
So let me explain what Trump actually just did this morning.
He and the EPA officially rescinded what’s called the endangerment finding of 2009. I actually warned you this was coming in this video back in August. So what is this endangerment finding? Well it actually started under the George W Bush administration but was finalized in 2009 under the Obama administration. In 2009 the EPA determined that “the current and projected concentrations of the six key well-mixed greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide (co2), methane (ch4), nitrous oxide (n2o), hydrofluorocarbons (hfcs), perfluorocarbons (pfcs), and sulfur hexafluoride (sf6)—in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations.” But why did the EPS come up with the endangerment finding in 2009? Because congress ordered them to. In 1970 congress passed the clean air act. In 1990 congress amended that law and required the EPA to come up with emissions standards for new motor vehicles and engines. They did that and they were sued over it. In 2007 the United States supreme court ruled that greenhouse gases *are* air pollutants under the clean air act law. But said the EPA had to decide whether those air pollutants posed a danger to public health or welfare or whether the science was too uncertain to make a determination. As I said in 2009 after public hearings and public comments the EPA under president Obama said yes those greenhouse gases are a danger to public health and welfare and they finalized the endangerment finding. Of course the EPA was sued again and in 2012, the dc court of appeals upheld the endangerment finding saying that the EPA was “unambiguously correct.” And based on all those court cases and the law — multiple administrations have created all kinds of environmental regulations to give us clean air.
Well –President Trump and the EPA say that EPA science was all bogus– or as Trump calls it “a scam”. They don’t believe greenhouse gas actually harm humans or the environment – they claim it’s all political. Well – the American Lung association says otherwise – today they released a statement that says in part “overturning the endangerment finding and eliminating cleaner vehicles rules will result in more air pollution, more frequent and intense disasters like wildfires and floods, and increased risk of diseases, making lung health worse across the US.”
So why is the Trump administration actually doing this? Well they hate the endangerment finding because they say all those climate policies that have come from it — have cost manufacturers and Americans more than $1 trillion. And that’s just not acceptable. So today – by getting rid of the endangerment finding – the president says it’ll save Americans and manufacturers $1.3 trillion. How? Well because it would remove greenhouse gas standards for light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and heavy-duty engines for vehicles made any time after 2012….which means manufacturers would no longer be required to comply with any emission standard made by the government after 2012….it would also by the way eliminate the requirement to put that start/stop feature in your car– you know that thing when your car automatically turns off when you’re stopped at a red light? Trump promises this deregulation is going to save you a ton of money.
We’ll have to see if manufactures actually cut the cost of a new car by $3000…I’ll let you can check on that. But besides that… even if you agree with rolling back the auto emission standards from 2012 and beyond – the endangerment finding also regulates greenhouse gas pollution from power plants and manufacturing plants and airplanes. Trump is talking a lot about how the auto industry is going to be deregulated because of this — but he’s failing to mention that all those other industries will probably also capitalize on this greenhouse gas deregulation too.
The president said deregulation is effective immediately. But not so fast — you should not expect these standards to change any time soon – because there are health organizations and states and climate associations lining up to sue the u-s government over this move by Trump. So it may be years before we actually see any of this stuff change.
Read the EPA’s announcement here.
Watch President Trump’s announcement here.
Read more about the Endangerment Finding here.
Read more from the American Lung Association here.
Read the rule chance here.
