In its draft rule to undo the endangerment finding, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asserted that the agency has no authority to regulate greenhouse gases for their effect on climate change, and additionally cited a Department of Energy report that downplayed the risks of climate change. However, legal uncertainty, combined with a recent report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine calling climate change “beyond scientific dispute,” may be enough to convince EPA to drop its scientific argument altogether.
Bracewell’s Jeff Holmstead told E&E News he agreed that EPA could drop the scientific rationale in the final rule. The agency, he said, could explain its decision by pointing to the public comments it received for the draft rule, many of which likely mention the National Academies report.
“One option they would have is just to say ‘we’ve gotten all these comments and we’ve been persuaded that climate change is a serious problem, but nevertheless, we don’t have authority to regulate CO2 emissions from vehicles … because it’s not the kind of pollution that Congress wanted us to deal with,’” Holmstead said.
