Stop Endangering Us

These unnatural disasters are brought to us by the Trump administration.

The remains of homes destroyed by Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Florida, on October 14, 2018. Hurricane Michael made landfall on the Florida Panhandle October 10, with 155 mile-per-hour winds establishing it as the strongest storm to hit the continental U.S. since 2004. With winds as high as 155 mph, the Category 4 storm slammed coastal towns in the area, leveling buildings and structures, flooding streets and leaving a trail of destruction.

The remains of homes destroyed by Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Florida

Credit: K.C. Wilsey/FEMA

While more people are being killed and losing their homes due to unnatural disasters, the Trump administration is undoing a long-standing scientific finding that climate change caused by fossil fuel pollution is a threat to human health and welfare. The endgame? Let oil and gas corporations pollute as much as they want.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created to protect people from polluters, not the other way around. 

This move is unscientific, illegal, and irresponsible. NRDC is fighting back in court.

The facade of the South Portico of the White House in Washington, DC.

NRDC is fighting back in court to stop the most dangerous rollback we’ve seen

The Trump administration just weakened its own mandate to fight climate change by repealing the endangerment finding—the government’s official determination that climate pollution threatens our health and our planet. This decision is dangerous. It’s also illegal. We will see them in court, and we will win. But we need you with us.

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What is the endangerment finding?

In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed the EPA’s authority to act on climate. Two years later, the EPA issued a scientific finding that the pollution causing climate change is a threat to human health and welfare, and the agency is obligated to act on it.

The endangerment finding is core to federal policies aimed at fighting this crisis and curbing the deadly and disastrous unnatural disasters hitting us right here and right now. 

By knocking down this finding and eliminating fossil fuel pollution standards for vehicles, the Trump administration is fueling even more frequent and extreme unnatural disasters. And it’s setting the stage to go after federal standards for the nation’s other largest sources of climate pollution next: power plants, oil and gas production, landfills, and more. 

Repealing the endangerment finding ignores science, the law, and common sense. We cannot let polluters operate unchecked.

Play Video: The Endangerment Finding Explained | What the Earth, Episode 11

WATCH: The Endangerment Finding Explained | What the Earth, Episode 11: NRDC federal climate legal director Meredith Hankins explains why the endangerment finding is so critical to our fight against climate change and how the EPA’s repeal of it not only goes against overwhelming scientific evidence but also has no legal standing.

Learn more

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Cars and homes engulfed by floodwaters in Pajaro, California, after an atmospheric river surge broke the Pajaro Levee on March 11, 2023.

5 Facts About the Endangerment Finding

Ed Board MemoUnited StatesMeredith Hankins
If the EPA scraps the endangerment finding, this would fundamentally undermine the nation’s safety, health, and economic well-being.
The NRDC logo on dark blue background

The EPA’s Endangerment Finding

Fact SheetUnited StatesDavid Doniger
The Trump administration is rejecting the legal and scientific basis for cutting climate-changing pollution.
People being rescued from a flooded neighborhood in Little Ferry, New Jersey, in the wake of superstorm Sandy on October 30, 2012.

Testimonies from a Warming World

PerspectivesUnited StatesJenny Shalant
Three climate activists state plainly what is at stake as the EPA tries to walk away from its responsibility to protect us from climate pollution.
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A fire truck drives past flames from the Hughes Fire in Castaic, California, on January 22, 2025.

Trump’s EPA Declares It’s “Futile” to Fight Climate Change

Expert BlogUnited StatesDavid Doniger
Cynical “futility argument” is an overlooked part of the agency’s backtracking on the climate crisis.
A dark shadow falls over half of the exterior of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters building on a sunny day

How EPA Rollbacks Will Cost Us—in Dollars and Lives

ExplainerUnited StatesCourtney Lindwall
Gutting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is just as damaging to our economy as it is to our climate and health.
Golfers play at the Beacon Rock Golf Course as flames from the Eagle Creek Fire blaze nearby in North Bonneville, Washington, on September 4, 2017.

How the Trump Administration Bakes Climate Denial into U.S. Policy

ExplainerUnited StatesMolly Bergen
Denying science no longer works, so the federal government is pretending the climate crisis doesn’t exist at all.
Firefighters walking past destroyed trees as the Wapiti Fire burns through Boise National Forest in Idaho on September 9, 2024.

Add your name: I stand with climate science and the law

NRDC is fighting back in court to stop the EPA’s illegal giveaway to polluters. Help us get to 25,000 signatures for climate protections. Join us in demanding that the EPA respect climate science and the law, uphold the endangerment finding, and protect people from dangerous vehicle pollution.

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