The US Environmental Protection Agency has announced efforts to abandon core environmental protections and embrace fossil fuels. The New York Times reported the agency is attempting to rescind the Biden administration's policy requiring power plants to eliminate most greenhouse gas emissions by 2039. Simultaneously, the EPA argues it cannot regulate power plant emissions under the Clean Air Act based on claims that such emissions harm neither public health nor the environment. This move follows the agency's elimination of the Endangerment Finding in February 2025, which had confirmed health risks and underpinned regulatory authority. Compounding the action, the US exited the Paris Agreement in 2025 and multiple international climate organizations earlier in 2026. Legal challenges are expected, but delays are concerning given rising global temperatures. Researchers at the UN continue to warn that emissions contribute to more lethal and damaging severe weather events.

The administration's actions represent the latest in a series of moves to render the EPA ineffective despite growing scientific alarm about climate threats. Even if legal challenges ultimately succeed, the waiting period for court resolutions is problematic as the planet faces dangerous temperature increases.