by Shannon James
In February, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revoked its own endangerment finding — the scientific and legal foundation for requiring regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. This critical safeguard, established in 2009 following the Supreme Court’s Massachusetts v. EPA decision, scientifically affirms that emissions from cars, trucks, power plants, and fossil fuel operations endanger public health and the environment. The administration’s move rejects decades of climate science and misreads the law in an effort to strip the EPA of its responsibility to protect public health and curb climate pollution. The rollback effectively embeds climate denial into EPA policy.
Eliminating the endangerment finding dismantles the federal guardrail limiting climate pollution, allowing greenhouse gas emissions to rise unchecked and accelerating the climate crisis. Without these protections, Americans face more destructive wildfires, stronger hurricanes, heavier flooding, and increasingly severe extreme weather — along with dirtier air and greater threats to public health, local economies, and critical infrastructure.
Rolling back climate safeguards will not lower insurance premiums, which are soaring as disasters grow more frequent and costly. In some high-risk communities, coverage is already unavailable. Nor will denial replenish dwindling water supplies across the West, where another potentially catastrophic wildfire season may follow a record-breaking warm winter.
Shortly before this announcement, the U.S. Department of Energy said it was giving $525 million to keep coal plants open. That was followed by Pres. Donald Trump giving $175 million of that to a few eastern coal plants to help pay to maintain those plants.
While Pres. Trump ignores science, empowers polluters, and gives hard-earned taxpayer dollars to rich corporations, we must continue to speak out for justice. Congress must hold this administration accountable for gutting climate and public health protections and reaffirm its duty to safeguard the American people.
This article was published in the March 2026 issue of Down To Earth.
