Stop the Environmental Protection Agency from Repealing the Endangerment Finding

The EPA has proposed repealing the Endangerment Finding. The Endangerment Finding is the basis for the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. The Endangerment Finding acknowledges what science and frontline communities have long known: that climate pollution poses a direct and growing threat to human life.

If the repeal goes through the EPA would no longer be able to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, power plants, oil and gas operations, or other industrial facilities.

You can take action against the repeal of the Endangerment Finding by submitting a public comment to the EPA. The EPA will be accepting public comments until September 22. You can go to this website, and comment directly.

The most effective public comments draw on your own experience. What effects has climate change had on your farm or local environment? Do you or your loved ones have a chronic respiratory illness or other illness affected by air pollution or the climate change? 

Additional talking points you can use:

The EPA’s authority to regulate GHGs is not optional; it is required under the Clean Air Act, as affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA (2007). The Court ruled that GHGs qualify as “air pollutants” and that EPA must regulate them if they are found to endanger public health and welfare—which EPA rightly concluded in 2009.

The 2009 Endangerment Finding concluded that greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and others, pose a danger to public health and welfare. This conclusion has been supported by decades of peer-reviewed scientific research and the overwhelming consensus of the global scientific community. Since 2009, the evidence supporting the Endangerment Finding has only grown stronger.

The repeal of the Endangerment Finding would be an attack on public health. Studies have shown that regulating the emissions from vehicles and power plants has led to significant reductions in infant mortality and adverse birth outcomes and have helped reduce cardiovascular and respiratory disease burdens, particularly in low-income and frontline communities near highways and industrial corridors.

We would feel the effects of the rollback of regulations here in Connecticut. Because we are downwind of power plants from the mid-Atlantic and midwest states, and because of emissions from cars and trucks on our highways, air quality in much of Connecticut is poor. The American Lung Association rates Fairfield, Middlesex, New Haven, and New London counties with an “F” for ozone levels. Ozone is the result of reactions of regulated greenhouse gases in the air, and those reactions are increased with increased temperature. Connecticut has over 95,000 kids with pediatric asthma, over 305,000 adults with asthma, and over 164,000 adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. All these respiratory illnesses are made worse by ozone. 

We are also seeing direct effects of climate change in Connecticut with increased flooding and wildfires. The CT Department of Agriculture identified $88 million worth of damage to farms and farm businesses due to weather disasters in 2023 and 2024. Communities along the shoreline are spending millions of dollars to adapt to risks from sea level rise.