President Donald Trump has taken direct aim at one of the most consequential climate change determinations in modern U.S. history, formally moving to reverse the Obama-era “endangerment finding” that underpinned sweeping federal greenhouse gas regulations.
Huge win for America today! Trump just demolished Obama’s overreaching climate regs. This is the biggest deregulation ever, saving us $1.3 TRILLION in costs we all know to be bs. pic.twitter.com/q8GhuHD4xC
— Introze (@TheIntroze) February 13, 2026
The Trump administration action overturns the 2009 finding issued by the Environmental Protection Agency during the administration of Barack Obama. That determination concluded that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases posed a threat to public health and welfare, providing the legal basis for federal limits on vehicle emissions and a wide array of climate-related rules under the Clean Air Act.
The Obama climate framework itself stemmed from a lengthy court fight that culminated in the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA. In that ruling, the justices determined that greenhouse gases qualify as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act and instructed the EPA to decide whether they endanger public health and welfare. The agency’s subsequent 2009 finding answered that question in the affirmative — initially applying to vehicle emissions but later serving as the legal backbone for a much broader suite of climate regulations that are now potentially vulnerable.
By rescinding the finding, the Trump administration is dismantling the core legal foundation that allowed the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases nationwide. The repeal was paired with the elimination of federal greenhouse gas standards for automobiles, with officials arguing the combined move would generate more than $1 trillion in regulatory savings and substantially lower the price of new vehicles for American families.
🚨BREAKING: EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin just INFURIATED the climate change scammers
“Is climate change a hoax?”
ZELDIN: “It’s a CON JOB for more power and control!”
Trump just ended destructive greenhouse gas regulations. WE WIN! 🇺🇸pic.twitter.com/p1UHyU38bf
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 13, 2026
Speaking Thursday in the Oval Office, Trump blasted the 2009 decision as “a disastrous Obama era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers.” He added, “This radical rule became the legal foundation for the Green New Scam, one of the greatest scams in history.”
President Trump further attacked the original determination’s legitimacy, saying, “This determination had no basis in fact, had none whatsoever, and no basis in law.” He also dismissed warnings that repealing the finding could worsen climate change and harm public health. “I tell them, don’t worry about it, because it has nothing to do with public health,” Trump said. “This was all a scam, a giant scam.”
According to the draft proposal, the Trump administration argues that greenhouse gases should not be treated as pollutants in the traditional sense because their effects on human health are indirect and global rather than localized. The proposal contends that regulating such emissions solely within U.S. borders cannot meaningfully solve what it describes as a worldwide issue.
The final text of the repeal is expected to face intense scrutiny from lawmakers, industry groups and environmental organizations alike. Legal challenges are widely anticipated, particularly given the central role the endangerment finding has played in federal climate policy for more than a decade.
Former President Obama, who rarely comments on sitting administrations, weighed in following Trump’s announcement. Writing on X, he warned that undoing the finding would leave Americans exposed to greater risks. “Without it, we’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change – all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money,” Obama wrote.
Trump administration officials, however, maintain that the repeal restores regulatory balance and reins in what they describe as years of overreach that burdened automakers, energy producers and consumers.
If upheld, the move would represent one of the most sweeping reversals of Obama-era environmental policy, reshaping the legal landscape for climate regulation and signaling a dramatic shift in U.S. energy and environmental priorities.
