Press Releases

Today, Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Doug LaMalfa (CA-01) released the following statement supporting the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to revisit the “endangerment finding.”
 
“This is long overdue. CO₂ is not a pollutant, it’s a basic building block of life. Plants can’t survive without it, and the 0.04% we are currently at is nowhere near a threat to the planet,” said Chairman LaMalfa. “The Earth has seen far higher CO₂ levels long before the invention of the SUV. The 2009 Endangerment Finding twisted the law to give unelected bureaucrats the power to dictate lifestyles, driving up costs and force working Americans into electric vehicles they don’t want and can’t afford. This repeal puts the brakes on that nonsense and gets us back to real-world thinking. I applaud President Trump and Administrator Zeldin for putting the American people’s choices back in the driver’s seat.”
 
Background:

Most regulated chemicals that are found to reasonably endanger public health or public welfare do so through proximity, direct contact, or inhalation of the chemical itself. While we have no doubt that direct inhalation of the six chemicals listed in the finding would threaten individual health, this is not what the finding claims. In the final decision, EPA states:

“[EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson] reached her determination by considering both observed and projected effects of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, their effect on climate, and the public health and welfare risks and impacts associated with such climate change.”
 
This finding was more about nebulous ‘climate change’ than it was ever about direct harm to humans. This has allowed subsequent administrations to implement catastrophic rules such as the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standard and Clean Power Plan.