Trump’s EPA Rolled Back the ‘Endangerment Finding.’ We’re Taking Them to Court.

The Trump administration is trying to strip the government’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants – the country’s largest industrial source of climate pollution.

The administration just gutted a rule that limits these emissions. In conjunction with that move, it repealed the endangerment finding for power plants.

The endangerment finding is the EPA’s official scientific determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare by driving climate change. As such, these gases are subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act. Earlier this year, the administration repealed the finding as it applies to vehicles – a move Earthjustice is challenging in court. Now it’s attempting the same maneuver for power plants.

This is the Trump administration gaslighting us on climate. Transportation emissions are the top contributor to climate change in the U.S., while emissions from power plants are responsible for a quarter of U.S. climate pollution.

The endangerment finding is rooted in decades of settled climate science. Repealing it doesn’t make pollution any less harmful – but it does clear the way for fossil fuel companies to continue raking in profits while Americans pay in health consequences and extreme weather events.

Why are power plant emissions standards important?

The standards the Trump administration repealed in September 2026 were the first of their kind – and they were badly needed.

In 2024, the Biden administration finalized these standards to limit carbon pollution from new gas and existing coal-burning power plants, requiring them to control 90% of their carbon pollution. These standards were projected to create up to $370 billion in climate and public health net benefits over the next two decades while cutting annual carbon emissions by an amount equivalent to taking 328 million gas cars off the road.

Fossil-fueled power plants are the largest industrial source of climate pollution, responsible for more than 30% of U.S. carbon pollution, as well as other dangerous air pollution that harms our health.

A technician uses a hammer while working on the underside of an Altima sedan at Nissan’s Canton Vehicle Assembly Plant in Canton, Mississippi. Nissan plans to build two all-new electric models at the plant starting in 2025. (Rogelio V. Solis / AP)

Why are vehicle emissions standards important?

When it attacked the endangerment finding for vehicles in February 2026, the Trump administration also weakened climate emission standards for new cars, trucks, and other forms of transportation.

Transportation is the largest source of climate pollution in the country. Over the last 50 years, motor vehicles in the U.S. have emitted more greenhouse gas emissions than vehicles in the next nine highest-emitting countries combined. They also emit other air pollutants that harm people’s health, causing thousands of premature deaths and billions in health care costs every year.

In reversing course on vehicle emissions, the Trump administration is making our economy less competitive. The world is already electrifying its cars and trucks, and the Trump administration is seeking to tie American manufacturers to an old and dying technology.

How will Trump’s climate policies affect public health?

The climate crisis, which is driven by greenhouse gases, poses severe risks to human health and well-being. These harms disproportionately affect people of color, children, the elderly, and other vulnerable groups. According to one estimate, extreme heat will kill 60,000 U.S. residents a year by 2050.

Climate disasters like hurricanes and wildfires cost lives, threaten food and water safety, and displace people from their homes. For example, wildfires in Southern California in 2025 killed at least 31 people, displaced hundreds of thousands more, and caused as much as $250 billion worth of damage.

Heat and wildfires are also worsening air quality, which exacerbates heart and lung diseases. In 2024, 46% of the U.S. population lived in counties with failing grades in ozone and particulate matter pollution. Wildfires now account for nearly 40% of particulate matter pollution in this country.

Firefighters battle the Palisades Fire as it burns multiple structures in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Ethan Swope / AP)

How will Trump’s climate policies affect the economy?

The cost of extreme weather and climate disasters is skyrocketing. As of December 2025, the U.S. has experienced 426 climate disasters costing $1 billion or more, with a total cost exceeding $3.1 trillion. Climate-fueled disasters are driving up insurance rates on homes and businesses, and insurers are exiting high-risk markets.

How have the courts ruled on the endangerment finding?

The EPA’s determination was the result of a historic Supreme Court case. In 2007, the court ruled in Massachusetts v. EPA that the agency has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

The EPA was then required to determine whether greenhouse gases pose a risk to public health and welfare and make rules to protect the public if so. Faced with a trove of scientific research that links greenhouse gases to a warming, chaotic climate, the agency released the endangerment finding in 2009.

Since then, the finding has been repeatedly affirmed by the courts. Polluting industries have brought several failed legal challenges, including one that Earthjustice helped defeat in court. In 2023, the U.S. Circuit Court in D.C. unanimously rejected the most recent challenge by an oil industry group and the Supreme Court declined their request to appeal.

For decades, Earthjustice’s litigation has helped strengthen the laws that protect communities from dirty air and reduce climate pollution. We will not cede this progress.