A Costly Move: EPA Abandons Endangerment Finding

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration announced Thursday that it will rescind a 2009 finding that climate change is a threat to public health and welfare. The determination, known as the endangerment finding, was based on years of evidence, and is core to the federal standards to curb greenhouse gas emissions from cars, trucks, and other major sources.  

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) endangerment finding recognized that emissions are a major contributing factor to climate change and the unnatural disasters it exacerbates. Last year the United States suffered 23 extreme weather events with damages totaling more than $1 billion each. In 2024, the Southeast endured more than $78 billion in damages from Hurricane Helene alone.

Following is a statement from Drew Ball, southeast campaigns director at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council): 

“The EPA’s decision fails to accurately represent the real impact that greenhouse gas emissions have on the climate, our health and safety. While the Trump administration may call climate change a ‘hoax,’ people across the South see the horrific effects firsthand through more costly and deadly climate disasters each year. The Trump administration’s refusal to recognize reality doesn’t mean the facts don’t exist.

“This action from the Trump EPA flouts the law and the clear direction from the Supreme Court. We will be challenging this in court, and we will win.”

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).