Trump Wants to Burn SC Verdict on Science Behind Climate Change

The Supreme Court ruled in a 2007 case that planet-warming greenhouse gases (GHG), caused by the burning of oil and other fossil fuels, are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act, Bill Barrow and Seung Min Kim reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Much of the understanding of climate change that was uncertain or tentative in 2009 is now resolved.

Since the high court’s decision, in a case known as Massachusetts v. EPA, courts have uniformly rejected legal challenges to the endangerment finding, including a 2023 decision by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Following Zeldin’s proposal to repeal the rule, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS) reassessed the science underpinning the 2009 finding and concluded it was “accurate, has stood the test of time, and is now reinforced by even stronger evidence.”

Much of the understanding of climate change that was uncertain or tentative in 2009 is now resolved, the NAS panel of scientists said in a September report.

“The evidence for current and future harm to human health and welfare created by human-caused GHG is beyond scientific dispute,” the panel said.

However, Trump and Zeldin want none of the NAS scientific affirmations that burning fossil fuels is deleterious to the environment, all because they support Big Oil and coal producers.