CLF is challenging the Trump administration's repeal of the endangerment finding which had allowed the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon pollution. Photo: Shutterstock
Well, the Trump administration has finally done what it had long threatened to do: it slammed the door on the federal government’s authority to fight climate change. But just because something is expected doesn’t make it any less devastating – or legal. By improperly revoking the “endangerment finding” linking carbon pollution to pressing existential risks such as climate change and chronic disease, the administration abandoned even the slightest pretense of concern for American families.
We are now a nation without greenhouse gas emission standards.
“Not many countries have zero,” one former federal regulator remarked to The New York Times. For the United States – the world’s historically most significant contributor to global warming – to join that ignominious class is a truly stunning turn of events.
At CLF, we had prepared ourselves. Less than a week after the administration’s pronouncement, we filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency, joining a broad coalition of health and environmental groups seeking to restore common-sense safeguards that acknowledge carbon pollution as a threat, or endangerment, to public health and welfare.
And we will fight like it’s a matter of life and death. Because it IS a matter of life and death.
Life Before the Endangerment Finding
Many of us, especially those living in cities congested with cars and industry, vividly remember the smog-choked skies of past decades. We remember the tearing eyes, the sore throats, chests tightening with every breath. And we refuse to go back to those days.
What’s more, we also now know something we didn’t know so well back then – we have seen firsthand the dramatic effects of climate change. Scientists warned us decades ago about what to expect, but now we live with monster storms, sweeping wildfires, rising seas, devastating droughts, prolonged heatwaves, and erratic weather patterns that even surpass what scientists had been predicting. Even this winter’s epic back-to-back blizzards in New England can be tied to an overall rapidly warming world.
In fact, it is our lived experience that makes the killing of the endangerment finding so unbelievably dangerous and ridiculously absurd. And not only from the point of view of health and welfare, but economically, too, as we burden our citizens and environment with the increasing costs of more sickness and a growing tally of climate disaster cleanup.
EPA’s Illegal Revocation of the “Endangerment Finding”
Equally importantly, it’s blatantly illegal. In 2007, in a case called Massachusetts v. EPA, the Supreme Court held unequivocally that the EPA has the authority and the duty to regulate emissions of greenhouse gases if it finds them to present a threat to public health and welfare. Consistent with well-settled, globally acknowledged science, the EPA, in the aftermath, found exactly that in what is known as the “endangerment finding.”
Although the Trump Administration has ludicrously and steadfastly denied basic science by proclaiming climate change a “hoax,” in revoking the endangerment finding, the EPA didn’t actually dispute the science. Instead, it offered a number of specious legal arguments based on relatively recent Supreme Court rulings to claim that, because of the global nature of global warming, it lacks the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. But that is precisely what the Supreme Court already found it does have back in 2007.
The EPA is clearly hoping that the Supreme Court will take up the invitation to invoke more recent rulings to reverse prior rulings on so-called “major questions” requiring additional congressional action to authorize the regulation of emissions. In the normal course of events, this should not work. But of course these are not normal times, and so – while we will fight this plainly illegal action strenuously in court – we also need to pivot to a focus on what will be at least a near-term need for the states to step up to fill the federal gap.
In the Face of Federal Retrenchment, States Come to the Rescue
While our legal fight against the revocation of the endangerment finding has only just begun, it has never been clearer in the face of obvious federal disdain for the public that state governments must step in to fill the void. And fortunately, many are already doing so. Colorado plans to offer drivers a $2,000 discount on new electric vehicles. Virginia lawmakers are considering making it easier to approve solar farms to address a record surge in electricity demand. And California is talking about making fossil fuel companies cover the cost of home insurance that is skyrocketing in the state because of wildfires and other climate disasters.
New England Can Lead the Way
In New England, we must not only join these state efforts but lead them. We can do that by strengthening laws that mandate cuts in climate-damaging emissions. Five of the six New England states already have such laws, but too many states are wavering amid federal intransigence. States must double down on incentives encouraging solar, wind, and other clean energy initiatives. They must continue to incentivize electric vehicles and incubate innovative ideas like small plug-in solar (known as “balcony solar”) and affordable geothermal drilling technology. We must also continue to develop new governmental and legal instruments, such as the groundbreaking Climate Superfund Act in Vermont, which aims to ensure that fossil fuel companies bear the costs of climate-related extreme weather damage.
A Future without the Feds
At CLF, we know that a patchwork of state climate policies will never do the heavy lifting that federal leadership could. And it is undeniable that until we elect a president and Congress who take their jobs seriously, both climate change and public health will suffer. But while we may be stymied, we will not be cowed. Green shoots transitioning the world toward renewable energy are budding, even in countries and places where we least expect it, from Saudi Arabia to Texas, where solar farms generated more power than coal plants last year. We will push ahead in New England. And when our efforts are coordinated with the responsible climate actions underway in other parts of the country, we will demonstrate to each other, the federal government, and the international community how committed we are to transitioning away from fossil fuels.
With or without the endangerment finding, CLF vows to push New England and the nation forward. As we challenge the Trump administration, we will never let up or give up.
