By Chris Dickerson | Legal Newsline
The Center Square

West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey is praising the federal government’s decision to repeal an Obama-era scientific finding on climate change.

On February 12, President Donald Trump and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history.

In this final rule, EPA is eliminating both the Obama-era 2009 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Endangerment Finding and all subsequent federal GHG emission standards for all vehicles and engines of model years 2012 to 2027 and beyond.

McCuskey says the move will save American taxpayers over $1.3 trillion.

“I am enormously excited for this announcement,” McCuskey said. “The Trump administration promised to deregulate, and repealing the unconstitutional Obama-era ‘endangerment finding’ is the single most impactful deregulatory action in American history.

“This rule was the first salvo of a war against working class Americans. It adopted a radical agenda based on pseudoscience, and it raised the price of every single American product.”

For nearly two decades, the endangerment finding has served as the legal underpinning for regulations targeting man-made greenhouse gases.

“The endangerment finding’s impact can’t be overstated,” McCuskey said. “It has cost American families over a trillion dollars since its adoption in 2009. So, EPA’s repeal efforts will save American families money and make vehicles — and every good transported by them — more affordable.

“The Obama administration designed this rule to force gas cars to go the way of the 8-track. But American consumers have spoken. And with auto makers like Ford announcing production halts on electric vehicles, the market has listened.”

McCuskey said he is ready to fight any challenge to today’s move.

“This repeal will no doubt be challenged in court, and West Virginia will be on the front lines of this litigation,” he said. “Defending EPA’s deregulation is essential to both affordability and the rule of law. The Obama EPA’s 2009 endangerment finding was an unconstitutional overreach.

Because of cases like West Virginia v. EPA and Loper-Bright, courts recognize that federal agencies, like the EPA, can’t regulate beyond their congressional authorization. In issuing the endangerment finding, EPA grossly expanded its own powers — well beyond those Congress granted it in the Clean Air Act. Repealing the endangerment finding is long overdue.”