CLIMATE HOUR – The Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 Endangerment Finding is the foundation of the U.S. government’s legal authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and to combat climate change. This finding is why the United States has vehicle emission standards. It is why the U.S. adopted the Clean Power Plan. It is why the U.S. became a party to the Paris Climate Agreement.
Columbia University reports that the second Trump Administration has implemented significant rollbacks of environmental regulations, including over 200 climate-related laws. In July of 2025, Trump’s Department of Energy released a report written by a newly-formed Climate Working Group, composed of five scientists known for their opposition to mainstream climate science. On that very same day, Trump’s EPA cited this Climate Working Group Report in their announcement that they were rescinding the 2009 Endangerment Finding and repealing all greenhouse gas emission standards for vehicles and engines.
Scientists around the world, including a group of 85 scientists led by Dr. Andrew Dessler and Dr. Robert Kopp, have rallied against the Climate Working Group report and repeal of the Endangerment Finding, concluding that the CWG report contained numerous instances of cherry-picking data, overemphasis of uncertainties, misquoting peer-reviewed research, and a general dismissal of the vast majority of decades of peer-reviewed research.
Join host, Bob Grove, and Dr Andrew Dessler to discuss the Environmental Protection Agency’s repeal of the 2009 Endangerment Finding.
Dr Dessler is a climate scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M University, and Director of Texas A&M’s Texas Center for Climate Studies. He holds a Bachelor degree in physics from Rice University and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University. Dr Dessler has served as a Senior Policy Analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and on NASA’s Earth Science Advisory Committee. Dr Dessler is a recipient of the American Geophysical Union’s Climate Communication Award, and is currently President of the AGU’s Global Environmental Change section.
To learn more, visit …
- https://artsci.tamu.edu/atmos-science/contact/profiles/andrew-dessler.html
- https://www.theclimatebrink.com
- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C6JPDD24
View other Climate Hour episodes at www.ClimateHour.net.
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