As discussed in a couple of recent posts here and here, the so-called Endangerment Finding (EF) was an EPA regulatory action early in the Obama Administration (December 2009) that now provides the foundation for all government efforts to restrict and suppress the use of hydrocarbons in our economy.  In one of his first day Executive Orders (“Unleashing American Energy”), President Trump directed the incoming EPA Administrator to submit, within 30 days, “recommendations to the Director of OMB on the legality and continuing applicability of the Administrator’s findings.”  Lee Zeldin was then confirmed and sworn in as EPA Administrator on January 29; but the 30th day after the EO, February 19, passed without any public news about a recommendation on the EF.

Today there is news.  Apparently The Washington Post was the first outlet to break the story; but that piece is behind their paywall, so I won’t link to it.  Fortunately, multiple outlets not behind paywall promptly posted slightly rewritten versions of the WaPo story.  Here is a version from Politico, and here is a version from the Associated Press as it appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

To no one’s surprise, the news is that Zeldin has recommended reconsideration of the EF.  Apparently the recommendation was made a few days ago in a private memorandum.  Here is the AP/AJC version:

In a potential landmark action, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency has privately urged the Trump administration to reconsider a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for U.S. action against climate change.  In a report to the White House, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called for a rewrite of the agency's finding that determined planet-warming greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.