In 2007, the Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA (2007) ruled that greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act and that the EPA has the authority to regulate them. In response, the EPA issued an “endangerment finding” in 2009, as ordered by the Court. This finding concluded that greenhouse gas emissions threaten public health and welfare –
a scientific determination that forms the legal foundation for federal climate action. This finding has since guided efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, power plants, and industrial sources.
But on July 29, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the Trump administration plans to revoke the 2009 endangerment finding. The administration also seeks to repeal rules regulating greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, which are based on that finding.
These moves ignore overwhelming scientific evidence of climate change.
The proposed repeal relies, in part, on a report authored by five known climate skeptics—individuals who have long worked to cast doubt on the scientific consensus about climate change. The Trump administration commissioned this report to support its rollback of climate regulations, according to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a former fracking executive.
I, for one, accept the findings of at least four U.S. government reports—including some issued during Trump’s first term—which conclude that:
- the climate is changing,
- this is caused by humans burning fossil fuels, and
- it is urgent we do something to reduce the negative impacts that changing climate will cause.
The Trump administration may try to repeal regulations, but it cannot repeal science or the blindingly obvious reality of climate change.
I am running for the MN State Senate because I am deeply concerned about the world we are leaving for our kids and grandkids. We can’t stand idly by as our government totally disregards the health and welfare of our future generations.