Experts, officials and lawmakers decry Trump administration’s rollback on landmark climate finding Dharna Noor
In response to the Trump administration’s rescission of the endangerment finding – the landmark determination that greenhouse gases are detrimental to public health and welfare –several experts, officials and lawmakers have condemned the move.
“This EPA would rather spend its time in court working for the fossil fuel industry than protecting us from pollution and the escalating impacts of climate change,” said Gina McCarthy, former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, who now chairs America Is All In, a coalition of climate-concerned states and cities in the US.
Former secretary of state John Kerry called the new rule “un-American”.
“Repealing the Endangerment Finding takes Orwellian governance to new heights and invites enormous damage to people and property around the world,” said Kerry, who also served as Joe Biden’s climate envoy. “Ignoring warning signs will not stop the storm. It puts more Americans directly in its path.”
Gavin Newsom, the California governor, said in a statement: “If this reckless decision survives legal challenges, it will lead to more deadly wildfires, more extreme heat deaths, more climate-driven floods and droughts, and greater threats to communities nationwide – all while the EPA dismisses the overwhelming science that has protected public health for decades.”
Today, Trump described the endangerment finding as “the legal foundation for the green new scam”, which he claimed “the Obama and Biden administration used to destroy countless jobs”.
“This is all part of the Trump administration’s authoritarian playbook to replace facts with propaganda, to enrich a few while harming the rest of us,” said Rachel Cleetus, senior policy director for the climate and energy program at the science advocacy group the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Administrator Zeldin has fully abdicated EPA’s responsibility to protect our health and the environment.”