The 2009 endangerment finding has functioned as a regulatory sledgehammer. Once greenhouse gases were deemed pollutants under the Clean Air Act, the EPA gained sweeping powers to regulate industries across the board. The consequences were dire: entire coal towns were hollowed out, energy costs soared, and American manufacturers faced stiff competition from overseas producers who were not burdened by similar regulations.

That last part is the key. We should note the two largest emitters of carbon in the world right now are China and India, and neither country cares much about what American and European climate scolds think — nor do they care about American EPA pronouncements. And there's no reason why they should. While the American left shouts in outrage at the very idea of American leaders putting American interests first, they are strangely silent when China and India put Chinese and Indian interests first. //

anon-d2ue
3 hours ago
In the 1970s, one could say the EPA was the model of a successful government agency, it made a large, measurable, and noticable impact in improving the quality of air and water. By the mid-1980s, it really should have been “Mission Accomplished” with the EPA budget winding down to maintenance of what had been achieved and some funding to research and regulate emerging risks from new chemicals, toxins, etc. Instead, the Agency just kept growing, growing, and growing with marginal, if any, benefit to improving the environment or human health, but at tremendous cost to the economy and federal budget.