EPA Chief Lee Zeldin Schools CNN Host On Deregulation Of Obama-era Climate Change Rules

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is defending the decision to repeal an Obama-era regulation aimed at combating climate change by imposing strict controls on entire economic sectors.

In a CNN interview yesterday, Zeldin explained that the 2009 Endangerment Finding from the Obama administration declared greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide as threats to human life due to their alleged role in accelerating climate change.

The EPA leveraged this finding to enforce rigorous regulations on industries such as energy, automotive, and travel, and it also served as the foundation for the Biden administration’s 2023 mandate requiring over half of all vehicles sold to be electric.

🔥 NEW: Lee Zeldin just TORCHED CNN’s Kasie Hunt over radical climate mandates—“We are NOT going to regulate out of existence entire sectors of our economy.”

This is how it’s done.

EPA Administrator @epaleezeldin didn’t flinch when CNN’s Kasie Hunt tried to corner him on… pic.twitter.com/HpfEHcGrz5

— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) August 3, 2025

Zeldin stated on CNN that the Endangerment Finding rule was based on overly pessimistic climate change forecasts from 2009 that proved inaccurate, and his decision was grounded in 2025 realities rather than those outdated assumptions.

Lee Zeldin argued that the endangerment finding exceeded the EPA’s legal authority, enabling the agency to effectively create legislation by addressing gaps in the law.

Here is the full interview.

PHOTO CREDIT: Pixabay