Trump EPA chief tries to eliminate major environmental protections
As 185 million people face life-threatening heat this week, the Trump administration is attempting to leave the Environmental Protection Agency powerless to protect people from the very pollution that is driving more heat waves, unhealthy air and dangerous weather.
EPA administrator Lee Zeldin made the announcement in Indianapolis, where the heat index reached 107 degrees on Tuesday. He proposed repealing the foundation that underpins his own agency’s attempts to tackle the biggest environmental threat facing the country today: climate pollution.
A mountain of scientific evidence shows that climate pollution from burning fossil fuels in power plants and gas tanks is warming the planet and fueling more frequent and intense heat waves, storms, floods and wildfires. It also increases air pollution that causes asthma and raises the risk of heart disease and other health problems.
Weather disasters alone claim thousands of lives and cause billions of dollars in damage in the U.S. each year. The cost of those disasters this year has already reached $93 billion, according to global insurance company Munich Re.
“While communities are still reeling from deadly floods this summer and bracing for record-breaking heat, the administration is saying it won’t tackle the root cause of extreme weather that puts us all at risk,” says Peter Zalzal, an attorney with the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund. “The EPA’s standards to reduce climate pollution are commonsense and the agency must continue to do its job protecting communities.”
The Trump administration wants to stop regulating the pollution that makes dangerous weather events more likely to occur. Deadly events in 2025 include the Los Angeles wildfires (Getty); a June heat wave affecting more than 100 million people (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson); and tragic floods in Texas in July. (Getty)
The danger is real
In 2009, the EPA concluded that planet-warming pollution, most of which comes from burning coal, oil and gas in power plants, buildings and vehicles, is a threat to human health and safety; and that the EPA has the power — and the obligation — to limit how much is dumped into the air, just as it does for any harmful pollutant.
That conclusion, arrived upon after years of weighing scientific and legal evidence, is known as the Endangerment Finding.
But the Trump administration is bent on erasing the finding, despite the fact that the havoc caused by climate change has only become more obvious and devastating over the last 15 years. Since 2009, Americans have suffered through 255 disasters like wildfires and hurricanes that have caused more than $1 billion in damage, each.
The Endangerment Finding isn’t the Trump administration’s only target. Soon after his appointment by President Trump, Zeldin announced plans to revisit scores of environmental protections, including life-saving clean car and clean truck standards. Zeldin also proposed repealing those, despite their success in reducing pollution, saving money for consumers and supporting American manufacturing jobs.
According to an EDF analysis of nine major climate and clean air safeguards, following through with Zeldin’s plans would potentially lead to 184,000 premature deaths and more than 280,000 more hospital visits in the U.S., as well as over $4 trillion dollars in higher energy and healthcare costs by 2055.
“If there are no enforced limits on pollution, you get more of it, making life more expensive and even more dangerous," says EDF President Fred Krupp. “The stakes could not be higher for Americans.”
Opposition from companies, courts and the public
The administration will face an uphill battle as it attempts to do away with its responsibility to protect the public from climate change. The EPA’s power to limit climate pollution has been challenged before, and time and time again has been upheld by multiple courts, including the Supreme Court.
Given the immense stakes, public health and environmental groups are preparing to oppose the administration’s effort. Even major companies and trade associations, including the American Petroleum Institute and Edison Electric Institute, have recognized the importance of stable, federal safeguards to reduce climate pollution. In a statement, Edison Electric said it would prefer a consistent federal framework to a patchwork of state regulations and lawsuits.
“The EPA is supposed to protect human health and the environment,” says Zalzal. “It simply can’t do that if it turns a blind eye to the biggest threat to our health and planet. The Endangerment Finding is foundational to the EPA’s ability to protect us and we will do all we can to preserve this bedrock safeguard.”
