politics

Trump Moves to End 'Climate Change Religion' in Win for Texas Oil

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the agency would release a proposal eliminating a finding that climate change posed a public health threat, which could undo years of emissions regulations.

Published July 29, 2025 at 5:31pm

The Trump administration moved Tuesday to roll back an Obama-era finding that greenhouse gas emissions posed a threat to human health, which is essential to federal efforts to crack down on industries like Texas's oil and gas sector.

Speaking on a podcast uploaded Tuesday morning, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin described the move as "driving a dagger into the heart of the climate change religion."

"Most Americans we care about the environment. We want clean air land and water" he said. "Then there are people in the name of climate change willing to bankrupt the country."

If finalized, the proposal to repeal the endangerment finding stands to undo a more than a decade's worth of regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions, from tailpipe rules for cars and trucks to restrictions on emissions from power plants and natural gas wells.

Those regulations were meant to reduce fossil fuel consumption over time, with many forecasting that global oil demand would peak before the end of the decade.

The oil and gas sector was divided by efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with many smaller companies railing against the end of an industry as larger companies like Houston-based Exxon Mobil and Chevron in recent years acknowledged the dangers of climate change and attempted to reduce their emissions.

The American Petroleum Institute, the industry's largest lobbying group, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The proposal to roll back the endangerment finding, which followed a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that climate change posed a danger to public health, is expected to set off a protracted legal battle that would likely take years to resolve.

"The EPA wants to shirk its responsibility to protect us from climate pollution, but science and the law say otherwise," Christy Goldfuss, executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement. "NRDC’s lawyers and scientists are not going to let that happen without a fight. If EPA finalizes this illegal and cynical approach, we will see them in court."

In the meantime, industries including oil and gas, electricity and auto manufacturing will be left in limbo, waiting to see if a more-than-decade-long federal effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions survives.

Were the Trump administration to prevail, it would potentially prevent future administrations from reinstating the endangerment finding, leaving states to regulate greenhouse gas emissions alone, said Jeff Holmstead, an energy attorney and former EPA deputy administrator in the George W. Bush administration.

But that strategy also poses a risk. If the Trump administration were to lose in the U.S. Supreme Court and the endangerment finding preserved, it would hurt legal efforts to undo regulations around cars and power plants.

"Certainly people in industry are concerned," Holmstead said. "Trying to undo the endangerment finding is likely to face an uphill battle in court."