The EPA is trying to rescind the Endangerment Finding — the scientific basis for regulating greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. Doing so would effectively end the EPA’s ability to protect people and our planet from these dangerous pollutants, even while our communities are experiencing more frequent wildfires, floods and hurricanes because of climate change.

The EPA’s proposal would neglect the agency’s responsibility to protect public health and the environment from harmful greenhouse gases to show fealty to the fossil fuel industry.

We need to remind EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin that he works for the American people. Tell Lee Zeldin to protect our health, our environment and our children’s future today.

__________

Dear Administrator Zeldin,

I am writing as a concerned citizen to urge you to protect the health and safety of all Americans by keeping the 2009 Endangerment Finding in place.

The Endangerment Finding serves as a legal foundation for crucial protections from the harmful effects of climate change, including limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks as well as power plants. The proposal to rescind it flies in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence, and puts our health, environment and communities at risk.

The EPA’s own data shows that the Clean Air Act prevents over 230,000 premature deaths annually and the American Lung Association strongly supports this critical public health law. The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed that the EPA is legally obligated to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, beginning with Massachusetts v. EPA (2007) and reaffirmed in later cases such as American Electric Power v. Connecticut (2011) and Coalition for Responsible Regulation v. EPA (2012). These rulings make clear that the Endangerment Finding must stand, as the EPA has a statutory duty to regulate harmful greenhouse gas emissions unless it can prove they do not contribute to climate change.

It is your duty to protect the lives and health of the American people. Removing the Endangerment Finding will put hundreds of thousands of lives at risk. This proposed action shirks the responsibility to address the harmful effects of greenhouse gases even while we are being devastated every year by rampant air pollution and increasingly damaging storms, wildfires and floods that are growing in intensity due to climate change. Furthermore, as a representative government, the EPA has a responsibility to its constituents to maintain the Endangerment Finding, with  86% of all voters in opposition to weakening the EPA.

It is clear that the Endangerment Finding is critical to protecting the health and wellbeing of the American public. It is also legally required to be maintained by the EPA, as evidenced by years of Supreme Court rulings; it cannot be removed.

As a citizen, I urge you to reverse course and keep the Endangerment Finding as is. Protect our children’s health, environment and future.