The Environmental Protection Agency is reconsidering the conclusions in its 2009 finding that greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases) in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare. This endangerment finding underlies the EPA's authority to regulate fossil fuel engines and vehicles under the Clean Air Act.

EPA has now sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review a draft proposed rule to reconsider the endangerment finding and motor vehicle regulations. Upon approval by OMB, the proposed rule would be published in the Federal Register for public comment.

Although the content of the proposal is not publicly available, apparently a copy was leaked to the press as The New York Times, NPR, and other outlets have been reporting on its contents. According to a CNN report, the repeal, if successful, would take away the federal government's main argument to fight climate change through a regulatory scheme.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced in March the agency would reconsider the rule as part of a suite of proposals to overturn pollution rules the Trump Administration considers to be burdensome to the fossil fuel and transportation industries.