Opinion: Annulment of EPA ‘endangerment findings’ cripples Clean Air Act

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 18, 2026

The Clean Air Act is clear. It values the environment that supports all life on Earth. But regulations limiting an air pollutant may not be imposed on a corporation unless/until EPA scientists determine that a pollutant “endangers” the environment and/or human life. President Trump in an executive order directed the head of the EPA, Lee Zeldin, to reexamine the “endangerment” rationale of the EPA with an eye to rescinding it. On Feb. 12, 2026, Trump and Zeldin (with no scientific background) announced that they were erasing the EPA’s 2009 scientific finding that six greenhouse gases “endanger” human health and the environment, thus crippling the Clean Air Act. This is unprincipled and legally unsupportable. It ignores a 2007 Supreme Court holding. State governments and national environmental organizations have appealed. ~ Orlando Delogu, Portland