Repealing Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding an Attempt to Ignore Impacts of Climate Change
WASHINGTON — The White House will release its misguided proposal to repeal a 2009 Environmental Protection Agency scientific finding that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare. Known as the “endangerment finding,” the determination detailed the pollutants from burning fossil fuels, specifically carbon dioxide and methane, and found that those pollutants can be regulated under the Clean Air Act. The finding has long served as the foundation for a host of policies and rules to address climate change. In response, Deanna Noël, climate campaigns director with Public Citizen’s Climate Program, issued the following statement:
“Greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and are the root cause of the climate crisis, and the Trump administration’s efforts to simply erase the truth is grossly misguided and exceptionally dangerous. Stripping the EPA of its ability to regulate greenhouse gases is like throwing away the fire extinguisher while the house is already burning.
“Overturning the endangerment finding is a blatant abdication of the government’s responsibility to protect the health and safety of the American people. The administration is shamelessly handing Big Oil a hall pass to pollute unchecked and dodge accountability, leaving working families to bear the costs through worsening health outcomes, rising energy bills, more climate-fueled extreme weather, and an increasingly unstable future. This isn’t just a denial of science and reality—it’s a betrayal of public trust and yet another signal that this administration is working for corporate interests, and no one else.”
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