Brian there on WNYC as we continue with the Health and Climate Tuesday section of the show.

We were obviously just talking about public health in the context of the new cane sugar switch for some

Coke products at the request of the Trump administration.

Now we'll talk about a major development in U.S. climate policy.

The Environmental Protection Agency is drafting a proposal to rescind its landmark 2009

endangerment finding, as it's called, which concluded that greenhouse gas emissions endanger

public health and welfare. That finding has been the legal foundation for regulating emissions

from vehicles, power plants, and other major sources of pollution under the

Clean Air Act. This report comes from the Washington Post, among others, who cites sources in

advance of a formal announcement, which we're told could come today. If the proposal goes forward,

it could dismantle many of the countries existing climate rules and call

into question whether the federal government will continue regulating greenhouse gas emissions at all.

EPA administrator Lee Zeldin and the Trump administration argue the original finding is outdated,

too costly, and was never explicitly required by Congress as part of the Clean Air Act.

But climate scientists and environmental advocates call this a dangerous rollback that ignores overwhelming evidence about the risks of climate change.

Washington Post, Climate and Environment Enterprise reporter Jake Spring is on this story,

and he joins us to explain what's at stake and how this fits into the administration's broader deregulation push.

Jake, thanks for coming on today. Welcome back to WNYC.

Hi, Brian. Thanks for having me on. It's a pleasure.

First, can you explain the 2009 endangerment finding under the Clean Air Act?

What was that?

The endangerment finding basically found that greenhouse gases endangerment

...