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A Standoff? A Smackdown? “He Said She Said?”
The EPA’s C02 Endangerment Finding of 2009 is under the gun by President Trump’s current (2025) initiative, “Unleashing American Energy.” Here is a quick timeline of important executive orders issued over the past 15 years to help lay out the landscape for legal battles to come.
Obama Administration (2009-2017):
On December 7, 2009, the EPA finalized its Endangerment Finding under the Clean Air Act section 202(a), stating that greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere, including C02, represent an endangerment to public health and the environment for current and future generations.i The Finding was presented by officials to represent a consensus within the scientific community, justifying governmental action.
Executive Order 13693 issued in 2015, instructed federal agencies to reduce their GHG emissions in data centers and physical buildings by 40% over 10 years, and mandated a gradual transition nationally to renewable energy sources aiming to reduce C02 levels in the earth’s entire atmosphere.
Trump Administration (2017-2021):
Executive Order on Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth issued March 28, 2017, directed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review the Clean Power Plan in compliance with administration’s previous order of January 30, 2017 (Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs). While these orders continued to promote an official policy of clean air and water, it directed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to seek a stay of Clean Power Plan litigation.ii
Biden Administration (2021-2024):
Executive Order 14008 issued in 2021 (Tackling the Climate Crisis) reversed Trump’s orders and re-established emissions reductions standards.
Executive Order 14082 (Establishing the Justice40 Initiative) of 2022 went further, allocating 40% of federal climate funds to disadvantaged communities, and requiring the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to create a Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool to advance environmental justice. The Order also mandated a reduction of GHG emissions to 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030, producing carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035, and achieving net-zero emissions by no later than 2050iii.
Trump Administration (current orders, January 2025 – April 2025):
Unleashing American Energy (January 2025) summarily revoked previous orders addressing climate change and directed agencies to reconsider regulatory actions related to GHG emissionsiv. The Order also withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreementv. This “Unleashing American Energy” order represents an official challenge to data upon which the 2009 Endangerment Finding and subsequent policies were based.
Establishing the
