When President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he was moving to scrap the Environmental Protection Agency’s Obama-era “endangerment finding,” the left erupted on cue. That 2009 determination declared greenhouse gases a threat to public health and handed the EPA sweeping authority to regulate them.
For years, that ruling served as the legal backbone for an avalanche of climate regulations — empowering unelected bureaucrats to clamp down on industry, energy production, and manufacturing in the name of combating emissions. Critics have long argued it became a regulatory bludgeon, used to justify policies that drove up costs and throttled economic growth.
How dare the president try to unleash the full economic power of the United States and let consumers — not bureaucrats — decide what they buy.
Predictably, the Usual Suspects immediately went into meltdown mode. The activist class, the climate lobby, and their media allies are clutching their pearls as if economic growth itself is some kind of scandal.
And right on schedule, a certain former president decided to reinsert himself into the conversation — apparently under the impression that Americans are still hanging on his every word:
Today, the Trump administration repealed the endangerment finding: the ruling that served as the basis for limits on tailpipe emissions and power plant rules. Without it, we’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change — all so the fossil fuel industry can…
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 12, 2026
Today, the Trump administration repealed the endangerment finding: the ruling that served as the basis for limits on tailpipe emissions and power plant rules. Without it, we’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change — all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.
“We’ll be less safe,” Obama declared.
That’s the talking point. The fear pitch. The same recycled warning Americans have heard for years whenever someone dares to challenge the regulatory machine.
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What he didn’t mention is the other side of the ledger: igniting economic growth, stripping away layers of suffocating regulation, lowering energy costs, and ensuring the United States has the power capacity to fuel the next generation of industry, innovation, and opportunity.
And never mind that unleashing American energy will drive down the cost of practically everything, making things more (wait for it) “affordable.” Like President Trump promised he would do. That doesn’t mean anything to the millionaire class Obama belongs to, but for the 95 percent of the rest of us, it does.
And speaking of climate grifters, was there ever any doubt about who would be furious over Trump taking the brakes off American energy?
Of course — the original high priest of climate alarmism himself, Al Gore:
The Trump Administration is once again trying to deny science and reality – this time, by throwing out the well-established research connecting the climate crisis to public health.
While the Trump Administration can try to ignore the climate crisis, it’s painfully clear that the…
— Al Gore (@algore) February 12, 2026
And Trump is “trying to deny science and reality?” Seriously? You said that? Might want to harken back to several of your earlier “we’ve only got a few years left!” predictions that were wrong.
And what would a liberal climate meltdown be without Gavin Newsom making an appearance?
The governor of California — a state drowning in regulation, sky-high costs, and an ongoing exodus of businesses and residents — is, predictably, distraught that Trump is moving to curb a federal agency’s power to throttle economic growth:
Donald Trump's administration is falsely claiming that greenhouse gases are not a threat to public health — breaking the law to once again grovel to the oil industry.
California will fight this lawless action in court. https://t.co/eBl3zoys0Y
— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) February 12, 2026
To borrow a phrase from Al Gore’s climate crusade, here’s an inconvenient truth for him and his allies: the so-called endangerment finding concentrated enormous power in the hands of unelected agency bureaucrats and gave them sweeping authority to dictate policy to the entire country.
For years, that determination served as a regulatory blank check — empowering officials to impose rules with massive economic consequences, often far removed from voters or direct congressional approval.
Gore, Obama, and Newsom may not like seeing that authority challenged. But critics argue that reining it in is about restoring balance, curbing bureaucratic overreach, and putting economic decisions back in the hands of elected leaders and the American people.
Whether supporters cheer it or opponents decry it, Trump’s move is undeniably bold — and for many who have long opposed expansive regulatory power, it’s been a long time coming.
