What matters to me today is The Endangerment Finding: Yes, You Care.
Reports in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and elsewhere state that the Administration’s final repeal of the Endangerment Finding is imminent. Yet, for now, the federal government websites that climate-policy wonks like me refresh compulsively have not posted the final documents. That gap between press reports and the official record is worth watching.
However this lands, the Endangerment Finding is not an obscure procedural footnote. Whether you view climate change as an existential threat, an overblown concern, or something in between, you have a stake in what happens here. The original finding was the legal cornerstone for decades of federal regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Its repeal would be the equally foundational basis for stepping back from that regulatory framework.
This matters for the U.S. economy, energy production, and the nation’s domestic and international posture. Policies that affect power plants, vehicles, industrial facilities, and investment in new energy infrastructure flow—directly or indirectly—from this determination. Signing or exiting the Paris Agreement makes headlines; the Endangerment Finding determines what the United States claims legal authority to do about climate emissions at all.
When the final decision drops, expect a cascade of legal, economic, and political consequences. Stay alert and check back here for updates.
That’s what matters to me today in 250 words or less. What matters to you? I’d really like to know.