Environmental organizations, scientists and politicians say Americans will be less safe and less healthy because of the Trump administration’s decision to repeal the Obama-era endangerment finding.
—
Reactions are pouring in following the Trump administration’s announcement on Thursday that it is repealing the endangerment finding, a landmark scientific finding that determined that greenhouse gases pose a risk to public health and welfare. Issued in 2009 under then-president Barack Obama, the endangerment finding has since underpinned US climate policy and emission regulations.
Speaking from the Oval Office and accompanied by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Secretary Lee Zeldin, President Donald Trump said the “radical rule [had become] the legal foundation for the Green New Scam, one of the greatest scams in history.” He added that the policy had damaged the American auto industry, driving up prices for consumers.
While the EPA has said the repeal will save American taxpayer $1.3 trillion, dozens of politicians, scientists and environmental groups have denounced the move, saying it will put lives at risk and shift the costs of harmful pollution onto American families, communities, and future generations. They called the move “illegal” and threatened legal action against the Trump administration. Earth.Org is rounding up reactions. Read the full story here.
Barack Obama – Former US President
Today, the Trump administration repealed the endangerment finding: the ruling that served as the basis for limits on tailpipe emissions and power plant rules. Without it, we’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change — all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.
Al Gore – Former US Vice President
The Trump Administration is once again trying to deny science and reality – this time, by throwing out the well-established research connecting the climate crisis to public health. While the Trump Administration can try to ignore the climate crisis, it’s painfully clear that the climate crisis will not ignore us. Last summer, the US experienced a dozen once-in-1,000-year floods in the span of just three days. In Texas, one of those flooding events killed at least 135 people, including 37 children at summer camp. The Trump Administration’s rollback of the endangerment finding is not only a direct assault on science, knowledge, and public health, it is an insult to the people across the country who are already coping with the disastrous consequences of climate-driven extreme weather events. The decision to revoke the endangerment finding is one of the more egregious examples of the Trump Administration prioritizing fossil fuel profits over American lives.
Maxine Dexter – Congresswoman
Trump is stripping the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases. I’m the only lung doctor in Congress. But you don’t need to be an expert to know this will have *horrific* consequences for our air, our health, and our future. I will NOT stand back while Trump sells off our future to the highest bidder. We will fight this in Congress, in the courts, and in the public sphere.
Bob Ferguson – Governor of the State of Washington
This federal action is unlawful, ignores basic science and denies what we can see with our own two eyes: Climate change endangers our communities and our health — period. From historic floods to devastating wildfires, Washingtonians have seen the impacts of the climate crisis firsthand. Here in this Washington, we believe in science — and we will not let short-term politics harm the long-term future of our communities.
Nick Brown – Washington’s Attorney General
We can either use what we know to protect our natural resources and environment, or we can invite catastrophe by leaving greenhouse gas pollution unchecked. For the sake of our communities and our future, this illegal action will not go unchallenged.
US Climate Alliance – Governor Gavin Newsom and Governor Tony Evers, Co-Chairs
This action is unlawful , ignores basic science, and denies reality. We know greenhouse gases cause climate change and endanger our communities and our health – and we will not stop fighting to protect the American people from pollution.
Ed Markey – Senator for Massachusetts
Trump’s EPA just repealed the landmark endangerment finding to give polluters a free pass. The science is clear: greenhouse gas pollution presents a clear and present danger to our health and our planet. No amount of denial from Trump or Zeldin will change that.
Environmental Groups, Scientists’ Reactions
Union of Concerned Scientists – Dr. Gretchen Goldman, President and CEO
Today, Administrator Zeldin took a chainsaw to the Endangerment Finding, undoing this long-standing, science-based finding on bogus grounds at the expense of our health. Ramming through this unlawful, destructive action at the behest of polluters is an obvious example of what happens when a corrupt administration and fossil fuel interests are allowed to run amok.
Instead of rising to the challenge with necessary policies to protect people’s wellbeing, the Trump administration has shamefully abandoned EPA’s mission and caved to the whims of deep-pocketed special interests. Sacrificing people’s health, safety and futures for polluters’ profits is unconscionable. We all deserve better and this attack against the public interest and the best available science will be challenged. UCS stands ready to defend the Endangerment Finding in court and beyond.
Out Children’s Trust – Julia Olson, Co-Executive Director & Chief Legal Counsel
Our Children’s Trust will file a petition on behalf of youth in the D.C. Circuit to reverse this unlawful action as unconstitutional. Congress required EPA to use real science to protect people’s health and safety by controlling pollution, not by unleashing it. Abandoning the Endangerment Finding is a violation of children’s right to life and their fundamental freedom to grow up healthy. This is government-created danger at its worst.
Natural Resources Defense Coucil
Cities are flooding and forests are burning, but the EPA is ignoring both science and the law. By rescinding its own conclusion on the dangers of greenhouse gas pollution, called the “endangerment finding,” the EPA will revoke its authority to control emissions from cars and trucks, the nation’s biggest contributor to climate change. And the EPA is setting the stage to undo restrictions on other climate polluters next, including power plants and oil and gas producers.
They’re ignoring the scientific consensus, mountains of evidence, and communities across the country that have been devastated by stronger hurricanes, bigger wildfires, and unnatural disasters.
We’re already preparing to sue the Trump administration and protect our planet.
The Nature Conservancy – Katharine Hayhoe, Chief Scientist
Since the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued its Endangerment Finding in 2009, the scientific evidence connecting greenhouse gas emissions to health impacts from climate change has only grown stronger. The foundation of that finding has been repeatedly tested and remains robust, while scientific understanding of how rising heat-trapping gases harm human health and well-being continues to expand and deepen.
Over the past two decades, I’ve contributed to this body of research myself—quantifying the risks posed by rising CO2 levels to people, infrastructure and the natural systems we depend on, and authoring multiple U.S. National Climate Assessments. These authoritative and exhaustive reports helped build the scientific foundation that underpins the Endangerment Finding, and their conclusions weren’t based on ideology. They were rooted in rigorous, peer‑reviewed evidence; evidence that has only become clearer with time.
For more than a decade, the Endangerment Finding has enabled the EPA to limit greenhouse gas pollution and allowed other federal agencies to put safeguards in place that protect people’s health. Reversing it wouldn’t change the science—it would only make it harder to mitigate the risks we’re already facing, from extreme heat to flooding and increasingly severe wildfires.
There is also a practical reality. When foundational climate policies are repeatedly questioned, reversed or tied up in legal uncertainty, it becomes harder for families, businesses and local governments to plan for the future. Stability matters. Predictability matters. Maintaining science‑based policies isn’t just prudent—it’s the reliable foundation we need to build a safer, healthier and more resilient nation.
Ocean Conservancy – Fatima Candace Vahlsing, Vice President of Climate
Eliminating the Endangerment Finding is like removing the batteries from a smoke alarm—it won’t stop the fire; it will only leave us more vulnerable. Science-based climate protections safeguard public health, strengthen our economy, and ensure a healthy ocean and a thriving planet, forever and for everyone.
Although this proposal targets vehicle standards, its impact extends far beyond our roads. By removing the foundation for regulating climate pollution, it also threatens our ocean by undermining progress in sectors like maritime shipping, a major and growing source of emissions that affects public health, global supply chains, and coastal livelihoods and economies. This decision creates regulatory uncertainty for America’s ocean economy, which generates more than $500 billion annually.
Climate Majors – Kate Wright, Executive Director
As the leaders closest to their communities, mayors have seen firsthand the havoc climate change can wreak in their cities, in the form of extreme heat, floods, damages to infrastructure and agriculture, and increased medical costs brought on by inhaling polluted air. More than 50 U.S. cities made clear in their public submissions on this ruling that rescinding these crucial, science-based standards would endanger public health and ignore the lived realities of cities across the country. At a time when families continue to see the burden of climate inaction on their daily expenses, this ruling endangers Americans and moves us further away from the leadership that is needed. While our federal government continues to fail in its basic responsibilities, cities will not stop protecting the health and safety of their residents.
Public Health and Environmental Protection Commissioners Bonnie Heiple and Robbie Goldstein
By rolling back the endangerment finding, the Trump Administration is dismantling one of the most important tools we have to protect public health. We cannot ignore the simple fact that vehicle pollution is bad for people, bad for our environment, and bad for our economy.
Massachusetts communities are grappling with devastating floods, our farms are struggling with unpredictable weather, and our cities are burdened by scorching hot summers. Massachusetts has strong environmental protections, and we have made significant progress in improving our air quality.
The Trump Administration’s decision will disrupt and challenge our progress to address climate change and protect our communities. Seniors, children, and those with asthma will beat the brunt of increased pollution.
ClimateWorks
The repeal of the U.S. EPA’s Endangerment Finding is a profound step backward that puts lives at risk and shifts the costs of harmful pollution from trillion-dollar industries onto American families, communities, and future generations. This move is a rejection of settled science, law, and the will of the American public. Simply put, Americans are more endangered because of this reckless decision.
Zeke Hausfather – Climate Research Scientist at Berkeley Earth
The scientific understanding of human-driven climate change is much stronger today than it was in 2009 when the EPA first issued the endangerment finding. There is no scientific basis for the Trump administration’s decision to repeal it
Featured image: Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons.
This story is funded by readers like you
Our non-profit newsroom provides climate coverage free of charge and advertising. Your one-off or monthly donations play a crucial role in supporting our operations, expanding our reach, and maintaining our editorial independence.
About EO | Mission Statement | Impact & Reach | Write for us
