President Trump withdraws the US from international organizations
President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from 66 major world organizations includes UN talks on climate change and oceans.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is preparing to reverse Obama-era scientific findings that have been the legal basis for federal regulations targeting greenhouse gases for more than a decade.
In a Feb. 10 briefing with reporters, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said the Environmental Protection Agency would take steps to withdraw the so-called “endangered designation” on Feb. 12, in a major blow to federal efforts to combat climate change.
The EPA’s endangerment report, signed in 2009 during the Obama administration, said current and projected concentrations of six major greenhouse gases in the atmosphere “threaten the public health and well-being of current and future generations.” A related EPA study signed at the same time cited new vehicles and engines as the cause of greenhouse gas pollution.
The move, a potential boon for the fossil fuel industry, is the most drastic step the Trump administration has taken to roll back federal regulations targeting climate change, which President Donald Trump has regularly labeled as a “hoax” and a “fraud.” President Trump also withdrew the United States from global efforts to combat climate change.
This endangerment finding is the basis for EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. However, if this regulation is repealed, the Trump administration will effectively be abolishing the regulation. The EPA “lacks legal authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate emissions based on concerns about global climate change,” the agency said in a proposal filed in August 2025 to reverse the findings.
Levitt said the repeal would be the “largest deregulatory move in American history” and would save Americans $1.3 trillion. She points to the cost savings of new vehicles, which the EPA predicts will result in future savings of more than $2,400 per vehicle purchased.
“This week, we will make history,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin wrote in a post about X.
Environmental groups condemn EPA reversal
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the administration’s repeal plan. Environmental and public health advocates have been campaigning for weeks to oppose the study’s retraction, saying carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health. On February 10, the group learned that despite their efforts, the findings would actually be retracted, and they immediately condemned the administration.
“The Trump administration is abdicating its core responsibility to protect us from extreme weather events and accelerating climate change, sacrificing our health, safety, economy and future,” said Abby Dillen, president of the environmental law group Earthjustice.
Environmental groups opposed to the measure argue that retracting the findings is inconsistent with the EPA’s legal and science-based requirements.
“This is a slap in the face for all the millions of Americans who are experiencing the devastation of heat waves, wildfires, floods, and storms,” Dillen said on February 10. “Earthjustice and our partners will see the Trump administration in court.”
Climate Power, an advocacy group focused in part on holding fossil fuel interests accountable for their role in environmental policy, said the decision would bury “decades of research” and strip government agencies of their ability to protect the public from dangerous pollution.
“This decision not only puts the health of Americans at risk, but will cost us billions of dollars every year,” said Alex Witt, a senior adviser at Climate Power. “This decision makes it abundantly clear that President Trump intends to make our families sicker and less safe to benefit a few billionaire polluters.”
Climate change advocacy groups pointed to statistics and studies that concluded that rising greenhouse gas emissions are causing extreme weather events, leading to heavier rainfall and more severe droughts.
After first proposing the measure in August 2025, the EPA received more than 570,000 public comments regarding its decision and published approximately 30,000 of them in federal documents. The American Lung Association was among the groups that opposed the proposal.
The Texas Vegetable Association is among the groups supporting the decision, saying lower prices will directly benefit both growers and consumers. Jed Murray, the association’s director of government relations, wrote that this would “relieve Texas producers from onerous costs, restore competitiveness, and ensure the reliable movement of fresh produce throughout the supply chain.”
The reversal of the endangered designation comes as President Trump is expected to announce new executive action on February 11 directing the Department of Defense to purchase electricity from coal-fired power plants. On the same day, the Senate Energy Committee is scheduled to hold a closed-door conference with Energy Secretary Chris Wright about Venezuela’s oil development.
In 2025, Wright commissioned five carefully selected scientists to conduct a “critical review” of the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, prompting widespread criticism from many climate scientists. The report, compiled in just two months, challenged previously published climate science and was cited in the department’s decision. Dozens of mainstream climate scientists in the United States disputed the group’s report.
