Trump removes landmark EPA ruling, CO2 emissions no longer seen as a danger to public health

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On Feb. 12, President Donald Trump announced that he revoked the landmark EPA ruling that greenhouse gases endangered public health. This was framed by the Trump administration as a victory for deregulation, yet there is an underlying issue that represents something far more troubling: a blatant retreat from scientific consensus and a disregard for the government’s job to protect the public from harm. 

In 2009, the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued the endangerment finding, which concluded that greenhouse gases, specifically Carbon Dioxide (CO2), were a threat to public health and welfare. This conclusion was based on scientific research and was tested through many years of legal battles. It was held up as one of the major pillars of federal regulation under the Clean Air Act. Without this act, the government’s ability to regulate emission sources would be nonexistent. 

To be absolutely clear, this reversing of the endangerment finding does not declare the end of climate change, nor does it stop rising temperatures, devastating storms, or a decline in air quality. Rather, it showcases that instead of fighting challenges head-on, the United States prefers to dodge accountability. It further signals that capitalism outweighs environmental responsibility, and thus, these quick profits are more important than making the earth livable for the next generation. 

Furthermore, this showcases the blatant disregard for science. This leaves science at risk of being politicized, thus eroding the trust of many public institutions that carry a scientific way of thinking. A public distrust of science will serve to destroy the credibility of empirical evidence, as well as the ability to make bipartisan decisions that will pursue the best interests of the public. 

For younger generations, we now have the consequences of ignorance thrust upon us, and must adapt to ensure we don’t fall victim to the same falsehoods that spurred them. We will have to find a way in the near future to combat these changes and revive the scientific way of thinking.

Thus, at its core, this debate isn’t simply about deregulation vs green policy making, it’s about the credibility of science and rational thought vs the fear of reality and the accountability that is closely associated. 

To put it bluntly, the rationality behind science, no matter how fear-inducing, is not found in deregulation. 

Josh Cornell (‘26) is a Chattanoogan political science major. He has worked with various political organizations, including political campaigns, has sat in on council meetings, and is the current senior class president. This column will cover topics ranging from local and state government to national news, and anything in between. To respond to this column in The Highland Echo and offer your political perspective, reach out to Editor-in-Chief Maddux Morse at [email protected].