Timeline of EPA Actions on Greenhouse Gases

This fact sheet provides a chronological timeline of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regulatory actions regarding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 2007 to 2015. It details the legal foundations established by the Supreme Court, the implementation of fuel economy standards for vehicles, and the development of the Clean Power Plan for the power sector.

• The 2007 Supreme Court case Massachusetts v. EPA established that greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act, granting the EPA authority to regulate them if they are found to be a danger to human health.
• The EPA issued an 'Endangerment Finding' which concluded that current and projected levels of six greenhouse gases threaten the health and welfare of current and future generations; the final rule was published on December 15, 2009.
• The EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) implemented a series of fuel efficiency and GHG standards for vehicles. For light-duty vehicles, standards for model years 2012–2016 targeted 35.1 miles per gallon by 2016 and emissions under 250 grams of CO2 per mile, with an extension through model year 2025 aiming for 54.5 miles per gallon. For medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, standards for model years 2014–2018 were the first federal rules of their kind for large vehicles.
• The Clean Power Plan (CPP), introduced in draft form on June 2, 2014, aims to reduce the carbon emission rate from the U.S. power sector by 30 percent compared to 2005 levels by the year 2030. The plan utilizes four 'building blocks' for state-level reductions: improving fossil fuel plant heat efficiency, substituting lower emissions generation, installing zero emissions generation, and increasing end-use energy efficiency.
• The EPA's 'Tailoring Rule,' published June 3, 2010, limited air permitting guidelines to the largest stationary sources of GHGs, specifically exempting facilities emitting less than 75,000-100,000 tons of GHG per year to focus on power plants and other large emitters.

APA

Collins, J. (2014). Timeline of EPA Actions on Greenhouse Gases. Environmental and Energy Study Institute. https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-timeline-of-epa-actions-on-greenhouse-gases

Chicago

Collins, Jenifer. Timeline of EPA Actions on Greenhouse Gases. Environmental and Energy Study Institute, 2014. https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-timeline-of-epa-actions-on-greenhouse-gases.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Collins |first1=Jenifer |title=Timeline of EPA Actions on Greenhouse Gases |publisher=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |date=23 September 2014 |url=https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-timeline-of-epa-actions-on-greenhouse-gases |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{collins2014timeline, author = {Collins, Jenifer}, title = {{Timeline of EPA Actions on Greenhouse Gases}}, institution = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2014}, month = sep, url = {https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-timeline-of-epa-actions-on-greenhouse-gases}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }