Federal EPA Action Incoming! A Breath of Fresh Air for California’s Economy?
The EPA’s plan to repeal a key climate rule could ease soaring costs for families and businesses in the Golden State.
⏱️ 3 minute read
EPA To Repeal Divisive Rule
Last week brought more welcome news from Washington: the Environmental Protection Agency has submitted a draft proposal through interagency review to repeal the contentious 2009 “endangerment finding.” This regulatory determination branded greenhouse gases like CO₂ as threats to human health and became the legal cornerstone for countless federal and state emissions rules affecting everything from our cars to power plants. The administration’s proposal would also eliminate the restrictive EV-focused tailpipe standards with limited consumer options. This development offers hope for genuine financial relief for California families already drowning in high energy bills, expensive gasoline, and unaffordable housing.
Easing the Burden of Sky‑High Costs
Anyone who fills their gas tank or opens their monthly electricity bill knows firsthand how California’s climate agenda has hammered household budgets. The state’s cap‑and‑trade scheme, built upon that 2009 endangerment finding, forces consumers to pay an estimated 10–15¢ extra per gallon at the pump, according to a comprehensive 2023 analysis. Meanwhile, our electricity rates have skyrocketed to 32¢ per kilowatt hour in 2024—nearly double what Americans pay elsewhere—leaving working families to choose between keeping the lights on and putting food on the table.
Small business owners face an impossible maze of compliance requirements, while wealthy corporations absorb costs or relocate operations to friendlier states. Stripping away the federal regulatory foundation could finally give Sacramento the political cover to reconsider these punishing policies. Rolling back cap‑and‑trade would provide immediate relief at gas stations and utility bills. Ending the electric vehicle mandates would restore consumer choice and bring down car prices when families desperately need transportation they can afford.
Unlocking Affordable Housing The Right Way
California’s housing nightmare—where median home prices hover near $850,000 and typical monthly rents exceed $2,800—has been made dramatically worse by environmental red tape tied to emissions regulations. The California Environmental Quality Act, shaped by greenhouse gas concerns, routinely adds $100,000 or more to the cost of each housing unit through endless delays and bureaucratic hurdles.
The single most excellent way to lower housing costs, both logistically and morally, is not wealth redistribution through subsidies—it is meaningful deregulation that reduces the actual costs of housing construction, benefitting everyone. Without the endangerment finding propping up these regulatory barriers, California could finally streamline housing approvals and slash construction costs. This would accelerate desperately needed home building while maintaining reasonable environmental protections. The impact on California could be transformative. We have passed imprudent laws that have created state emissions targets that sound noble in press releases but impose crushing compliance costs on developers trying to build homes for working families.
A Smarter Approach to Environmental Goals
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has raised compelling legal questions about whether the agency exceeded its Clean Air Act authority when it issued the original endangerment finding. His argument that greenhouse gases may not legally qualify as a single regulated pollutant deserves serious consideration. The numbers tell a sobering story: California’s emissions reductions amount to less than 1% of global totals. At the same time, our catastrophic wildfires released 127 million metric tons of CO₂ in 2020 alone—dwarfing industrial emissions and highlighting how misplaced our regulatory priorities have become.
Forest management and wildfire prevention would deliver greater environmental benefits than crushing families with unaffordable energy costs. Zeldin has announced 31 sweeping regulatory reforms to roll back these cost-heavy mandates and restore consumer freedom in energy and transportation markets.
So, Does It Matter?
This EPA repeal represents a golden opportunity for California to step back from the regulatory cliff and reassess how climate policies affect real people living real lives. Dreadful laws like AB 32 and SB 375 have been fully implemented for years, and their economic consequences are undeniable—ask any family struggling to pay their bills or a young couple priced out of homeownership.
Repealing the endangerment finding could finally realign state policy toward affordability and individual choice rather than top-down mandates that benefit environmental activists more than ordinary Californians. When working families cannot afford necessities like transportation, housing, and electricity, our priorities have gone seriously wrong.
The public comment period will open soon, giving citizens a voice in this crucial decision. If this rollback moves forward, it could mark a genuine turning point that puts family budgets and common-sense policy ahead of rigid ideological mandates justified by questionable federal science pronouncements.
More On California’s Reckless Carbon Crusade…
Earlier this year, I penned an in‑depth column for the California Globe where I questioned the prudence of California’s quixotic single‑state‑in‑a‑single‑nation crusade to reduce human‑created carbon emissions in California. The epic cost to Californians for the negligible change in planet wide carbon levels tells you policymakers lack prudential judgment.