Under Trump’s Direction, EPA Revokes Key Finding Which Considers Human Health Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions 

The Trump Administration Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week revoked a 2009 finding that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide endanger human health by driving climate change. This formal regulatory scientific conclusion has served since the Obama Administration as a keystone supporting multiple EPA rules designed to cut emissions of greenhouse gases. 

Scientists and independent fact-checking agencies swiftly concluded that the Trump EPA’s revocation of the endangerment finding is based on flawed analysis and false claims. Claims that are easily disproven with the following facts:

• Thousands of North Carolinians die prematurely every year due to air pollution, 
• Current climate change is indisputably linked to human-made emissions. 
• A large majority of North Carolina voters (69%) say extreme weather events are increasing in North Carolina,
• Renewable energy is cheaper than fossil-fuel generated power.

Enriching Billionaires at The Cost of Hardworking Families

Public reaction to the EPA reversal was swift and damning. “President Donald Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin [on February 12] revoked the endangerment finding and made climate denial the official policy of the United States government. They said greenhouse gas emissions don’t endanger human health by driving the worsening climate crisis. We know that’s not true,” said Dan Crawford, NCLCV’s senior director of public affairs. “Over a hundred thousand Americans die prematurely each year from air pollution. Extreme weather is getting worse, not better, and that is caused by climate change. These are facts. Trump and Zeldin continue to ignore science and reality in order to reward rich oil and gas CEOs. We have a right to clean air, good health, and a lower threat from extreme weather.  A large majority of North Carolina voters (69%) say extreme weather events are increasing in North Carolina, while just 27% say they are staying the same. We know the truth.” 

Former EPA scientist and League of Conservation Voters Vice President of Federal Policy Matthew Davis spoke out against the decision. “Trump and EPA administrator Zeldin are giving polluters a free pass to pollute – enriching billionaire fossil fuel executives at our expense. Their impending decision comes after the EPA announced earlier this year that they will no longer count premature death or other health effects from air pollution in rulemakings. The EPA has one job — to protect our health and our environment. Instead, Trump and Zeldin are gaslighting the public and denying the harms from the climate crisis and air pollution. Repealing the endangerment finding takes the legs out from under the EPA’s carbon pollution standards that save lives, and would raise families’ insurance, transportation, and energy costs by letting fossil fuel companies off the hook for their harmful pollution.” 

Legal Challenge

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) were among the groups which immediately announced that they would challenge the EPA’s revocation of the endangerment finding in court. 

“This cynical and devastating action by the Trump EPA will not go forward without a fight. We will see them in court—and we will win,” said NRDC president and CEO Manish Bapna. “This is the single biggest attack in history on the federal government’s efforts to tackle the climate crisis. Nearly 20 years after the Supreme Court confirmed the EPA’s authority to act, the Trump EPA is leaving American families on their own to deal with the consequences. With millions of Americans facing stronger storms, hotter heat waves, and more dangerous wildfires, the Trump administration is trying to pretend it’s all a hoax and there’s nothing to be done about it. But the impacts of climate change are right here, right now.” 

“The unlawful, year-long effort by the political leadership at EPA rejects the overwhelming evidence that climate pollution threatens everyone’s health and safety,” said Fred Krupp, EDF president. “EDF will challenge this decision in court, where evidence matters, and keep working with everyone who wants to build a better, safer and more prosperous future.”