Thursday, February 12, 2026 – Today the Trump Administration announced the repeal of The Endangerment Finding, undermining decades of scientific consensus and stripping the EPA of its authority to protect the public from pollution. If the action holds, it marks a deeply troubling setback for public health, environmental protection, and our children’s future.

Response from Utah Clean Energy

“Instead of protecting us and our children from the risks of pollution, this ruling will weaken the very safeguards meant to keep families safe. The science is unequivocal: unregulated greenhouse gas emissions harm public health. Rescinding the Endangerment Finding doesn’t change that fact, it simply means we have fewer protections against it.” states Kelbe Goupil, Senior Associate of Electrification for Utah Clean Energy.

“Our future is being decided with disregard for the rule of law and decades of scientific consensus. This decision props up the fossil fuel industry at the expense of our communities across the country, and certainly in Utah, who are facing real and immediate risks to our health, our air, our water, and our future,” states Goupil.

Local Impacts of this Decision

The ruling strips away the very foundation of the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The consequences include:

• Weakened safeguards for families. Rolling back EPA authority leaves the public with fewer protections against unmitigated pollution.
  
• Rising fuel costs: At a time when clean energy is the cheapest new energy available, this ruling props up outdated, inefficient technologies. 
  
• Increased pollution across the board. Without an EPA charged with regulating greenhouse gas emissions, major emitters have a green light to release harmful pollutants into our air.
  
• Unregulated greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. Vehicle pollution standards safeguarded are a critical tool for reducing harmful air pollutants along the Wasatch Front. It is likely these standards will be rolled back without the Endangerment Finding. 
  
• Worsening climate impacts. Utahns are already facing a historically dry ski season, extreme heat, severe wildfires, and a shrinking Great Salt Lake, this ruling is guaranteed to increase the severity of these impacts.
  
• Undercutting innovation. This will undermine US leadership and innovation to develop cleaner technologies by removing incentives to reduce emissions. 

Background

In July 2025, the EPA announced a proposal to rescind the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding. The Endangerment Finding, established by the EPA in 2009 determined that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions “endanger human health and welfare.” This finding is the legal and scientific foundation that allows the agency to regulate GHG emissions.

Over 570,000 people submitted comments to the EPA in response to the proposal. Utah Clean Energy’s experts joined the large chorus of respondents who submitted comments urging the EPA not to rescind the ruling. You can read Utah Clean Energy’s comments here.

Notably, the document that the EPA cited extensively to validate the proposal was found to have been written in violation of federal law. Given this ruling, it is even more outrageous that the federal government is moving forward with the repeal of the Endangerment Finding. In a media statement, the Environmental Defense Fund demanded the administration withdraw the repeal, “The federal court’s ruling is absolutely clear – the Trump Administration violated federal law by secretly convening a group tasked with developing a dangerously slanted report to use as the basis for attacking the Endangerment Finding, the long-standing determination that climate pollution endangers our health and our lives and requires commonsense action,” said Erin Murphy, Senior Attorney for Environmental Defense Fund. 

Utah Clean Energy expects the action to be fought in the courts. We are awaiting news about which groups are leading this effort. 

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