One bureaucratic decision unleashed the climate hysteria that has hijacked our economy, gutted industries, and warped environmental priorities for over a decade. That decision? The EPA’s 2009 ruling that declared CO2, a gas essential to all life, a pollutant. Now, Lee Zeldin has the power to erase it with the stroke of a pen. Will he?
The Origins: Massachusetts v. EPA and the 2009 Ruling
The foundation for this regulatory disaster was laid in 2007 when the Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts v. EPA that greenhouse gases, including CO2, could be considered pollutants under the Clean Air Act if they were found to endanger public health or welfare. This case stemmed from a lawsuit by twelve states and several environmental groups, arguing that the EPA had a duty to regulate CO2 emissions from vehicles.
The ruling was a gift to climate alarmists, but it still required the EPA to determine whether CO2 met the criteria of a harmful pollutant. In 2009, under the Obama administration, the EPA issued its infamous "Endangerment Finding," declaring that CO2 and other greenhouse gases posed a threat to public health. This ruling gave the EPA sweeping power to regulate CO2 emissions across industries, despite the fact that CO2 neither poisons air nor contaminates water, unlike actual pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, mercury, or lead. It’s not a pollutant; it’s plant food. The entire premise is fraudulent, yet it granted unelected bureaucrats sweeping control over the backbone of modern civilization… energy.
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