The Daily The Secret Plan to End U.S. Climate Regulations
326 snips
Feb 12, 2026 
Lisa Friedman, a New York Times climate policy reporter who traced a secret legal campaign. She explains the 2009 endangerment finding and why conservatives targeted it. She details the small network, Project 2025 ties, and legal arguments used to justify repeal. She outlines the likely court battles, hopes to reach the Supreme Court, and potential effects on state rules and global climate action.
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Endangerment Finding Is The Legal Spine
- The 2009 endangerment finding is the legal spine allowing U.S. regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
- Repealing it removes the federal legal basis for auto, power plant, and methane rules and collapses related regulations.
Small Group Mapped A Secret Campaign
- Mandy Gunasekera and Jonathan Brightbill secretly plotted to eliminate the endangerment finding for years.
- They prepared legal strategies and gathered allies to use when a Republican president returned to power.
Secret Funding And Project 2025 Link
- In 2022 Gunasekera and Brightbill sought funding to build an 'arsenal' for repealing the finding and wrote studies by contrarian scientists.
- The Heritage Foundation funded the effort and included it in Project 2025, with Gunasekera writing the EPA chapter.
