Turning back the clock on climate rules won’t stop heat-trapping pollution

The U.S. must regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants, factories and vehicles. Refusing to do so defies sound science and violates the Clean Air Act.

The 2009 endangerment finding concluded, after more than 380,000 public comments and exhaustive scientific review, that heat-trapping gases endanger public health and welfare. That finding remains unimpeachable: any claim to the contrary is simply false.

Yet on July 29, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin dismissed this bedrock science, boasting he’d “driven a dagger into the heart of the climate change religion” and insisting the health-based finding was “never about health at all.” His words betray a stunning disregard for facts he once publicly acknowledged. As a congressman, Zeldin joined the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus and admitted that human activities drive warming. At the same time, he raised over $2 million from oil and gas political action committees — precisely the industries he now shields.

President Trump tapped Zeldin in November 2024 to dismantle EPA’s climate safeguards. Trump hailed him as a champion of “America First” deregulation who’d unleash U.S. businesses while delivering “the cleanest air and water on the planet.” No plan for reconciling those promises has emerged.

Upon taking the helm, Zeldin inherited an agency already staffed by the president with lawyers and lobbyists for oil and chemical interests. Under his leadership, the EPA has moved to roll back vehicle-emissions standards and weaken power-plant pollution rules — moves that clash with the Supreme Court’s April 2, 2007, decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, which confirmed greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act and required the agency to limit them if they harm health and welfare.

The human cost of inaction — and sudden deregulation — is already stark:

• Hurricane Sandy (Oct. 29, 2012) flooded New York City subways, cut power to 8.5 million homes — and left downtown Riverhead under water.
• Hurricane Harvey (Aug. 25, 2017) dropped over 50 inches of rain on Houston, causing $125 billion in damage.
• Category 5 landfalls were once so rare that only one made U.S. soil in the entire 20th century, in 1935 — yet since 2017, four have struck in U.S. territory: Irma (Sept. 10, 2017), Maria (Sept. 20, 2017), Michael (Oct. 10, 2018) and Dorian (Sept. 1, 2019).
• Wildfire seasons have worsened, with megafires consuming record acreage in California, the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and Canada.

These extreme events align precisely with the warming trends laid out in the 2009 technical support document — and confirmed by every major climate assessment since. Denying the science won’t stop stronger storms, deeper droughts or more destructive wildfires. It only imperils communities, economies and the future of our planet.

Putting America first shouldn’t require fantasy or sacrificing our children’s future. Zeldin must honor the December 2009 endangerment finding, comply with Massachusetts v. EPA and restore the regulatory framework designed to protect public health. Otherwise, the EPA will no longer stand for environmental protection — but for political expediency at the planet’s expense. We can’t afford any less.

Your voice matters.

The EPA will be accepting public comments on its proposal to reconsider the endangerment finding once the proposed rulemaking is published in the Federal Register, currently scheduled for Aug. 1.  Before the comment period closes, head to www.regulations.gov, docket number EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0194, and tell the agency to uphold the December 2009 endangerment finding and keep strong emission limits in place. You can also email comments to a-and-r-Docket@epa.gov (reference docket number EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0194) and urge your federal representatives to defend our health and future. Submit your comment today — our planet depends on it.