When Congress passed the Clean Air Act in 1970, climate change wasn’t on anyone’s mind.
Yet under an Obama-era decision known as the “Endangerment Finding,” the Environmental Protection Agency has claimed authority under the act to micromanage large parts of the American economy in the name of combating global warming.
President Donald Trump’s proposal to reverse the finding returns the Clean Air Act to its original purpose, marking the end of a failed effort to control the climate through executive fiat.
The Endangerment Finding stemmed from a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that required the EPA to determine whether carbon dioxide qualified as a dangerous air pollutant under the Clean Air Act.
In dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts warned that the decision “ignores the complexities” of addressing global warming through the statute — but suggested its effects “may be more symbolic than anything else.”
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Judge Glock is the director of research and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor at City Journal. This piece is adapted from City Journal.
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