In Game-Changing Climate Rollback, E.P.A. Aims to Kill a Bedrock Scientific Finding

and Reporting from Washington Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said on Tuesday the Trump administration would revoke the scientific determination that underpins the governments legal authority to combat climate change. Speaking at a truck dealership in Indianapolis, Mr. Zeldin said the E.P.A. planned to rescind the 2009 declaration, known as the , which concluded that planet-warming greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health. The Obama and Biden administrations used that determination to set strict limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars, power plants and other industrial sources of pollution. The proposal would, if finalized, amount to the largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States, Mr. Zeldin said. He said the proposal would also erase limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks on the nations roads. Without the endangerment finding, the E.P.A. would be left with no authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate the greenhouse gas emissions that are accumulating in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels. The proposal is President Trumps most consequential step yet to derail federal climate efforts. It marks a notable shift in the administrations position from one that had downplayed the threat of global warming to one that essentially flatly denies the overwhelming scientific evidence of climate change. It would not only reverse current regulations, but, if the move is upheld in court, it could make it significantly harder for future administrations to rein in climate pollution from the burning of coal, oil and gas. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and your Times account, or for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? . Want all of The Times? .