This week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) completely upended the federal regulation of climate change, repealing its 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding. The endangerment finding, which concluded that carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, provided the legal basis for the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases. The EPA issued the endangerment finding in 2009, after a Supreme Court ruling that greenhouse gas emissions are an "air pollutant" for the purposes of the Clean Air Act, which means the EPA must regulate such emissions if they threaten public health. Since then, the endangerment finding has served as the legal backbone of federal climate regulation, from emissions standards for vehicles and power plants, to mandatory greenhouse gas reporting for large emissions sources.
In August 2025, the EPA announced its intent to rescind the endangerment finding and repeal all greenhouse gas emission standards for vehicles that rely on it. As of Thursday, February 12, 2026, this action has been finalized, with EPA stating that the endangerment finding exceeded its authority to combat air pollution. In a press release, EPA explained that the Clean Air Act "does not provide statutory authority for EPA to prescribe motor vehicle and engine emission standards in the manner previously utilized, including for the purpose of addressing global climate change, and therefore has no legal basis for the Endangerment Finding and resulting regulations."
The recission of the endangerment finding will likely face immediate legal challenge. Based on public comments on the draft rulemaking, petitioners will argue that rescission lacks adequate scientific support, conflicts with the Supreme Court’s ruling that greenhouse gases are an "air pollutant," and fails to satisfy the reasoned decision-making requirements for federal rulemakings.
For regulated entities, the most immediate practical impact of the recission is that it will remove federal greenhouse gas compliance obligations for highway vehicles and engines. EPA’s proposed rule expressly framed the rescission as eliminating "future obligations for the measurement, control, and reporting of GHG emissions" for highway engines and vehicles. If upheld, the rule would unwind the federal tailpipe emissions standards that currently govern product design, certification strategies, and compliance roadmaps for OEMs, engine manufacturers, and fleet operators. Recission would also narrow federal regulation of power plants and other stationary sources, meaning that fewer or simpler greenhouse gas-related permit conditions would be imposed on such sources.
The repeal of the endangerment finding creates significant uncertainty regarding compliance regulations, particularly as any legal challenges to the recission unfold. And even as federal requirements loosen, companies may still be subject to state greenhouse regulations, customer procurement standards, and climate-related contractual commitments. Therefore, the near-term operational reality is that companies will need to develop flexible compliance strategies that respond to the shifting regulatory landscape.
Venable is continuing to track these regulatory developments and is available to advise on compliance with federal and state climate laws.