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EPA’s “criminal” repeal of climate science is a giveaway to polluters
Anti-establishment progressive Democrat Lisa McCormick issued a scathing condemnation of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin’s proposal to rescind the landmark 2009 Endangerment Finding, calling it a blatant act of scientific denialism and a corrupt handout to the fossil fuel industry that will poison communities and accelerate climate catastrophe.
“With this proposal, Lee Zeldin and Donald Trump are not just rolling back a regulation; they are committing an act of institutional arson, attempting to burn down the very foundation of environmental law to please their billionaire polluter donors,” said McCormick. “To deny the established science that greenhouse gases endanger human health is a profound betrayal of the EPA’s mission and a death sentence for vulnerable communities already choking on pollution and battling climate-driven disasters.”
McCormick lambasted the move as an extreme overreach that goes far beyond typical administrative changes.
“This is not a policy disagreement; it is a full-scale surrender to corporate greed. The 2009 Endangerment Finding is based on decades of irrefutable scientific consensus,” said McCormick. “Rescinding it isn't 'regulatory relief'; it is a calculated plan to handcuff the federal government, preventing any future administration from ever regulating climate pollution again. It is an authoritarian power grab disguised as deregulation.”
Over the course of 15 years, the EPA developed a suite of regulations under the Clean Air Act (CAA) built upon the agency’s finding – originally made in 2009 – that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere endanger public health and welfare.
The proposal, announced by Zeldin at an auto dealership in Indiana surrounded by Republican officials and industry lobbyists, would repeal all greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles, from passenger cars to heavy-duty trucks.
McCormick argued that this will have immediate and devastating consequences for American families.
“They are selling this as ‘consumer choice,’ but the only choice they are giving Americans is the choice to pay more at the pump and to breathe more toxic air,” said McCormick. “Rolling back vehicle standards means more asthma attacks for our children, more cancer clusters in communities of color living near highways, and higher costs for everything, as fuel-efficient technology is abandoned. This is a direct attack on public health and economic justice.”
McCormick connected the action to a broader pattern of corruption within the Trump administration.
“This has nothing to do with sound science or economics and everything to do with payback,” said McCormick. “The oil and gas industry funded their campaigns, and now Trump and Zeldin are delivering by shredding the rules that hold them accountable. They are systematically dismantling every office within the EPA that conducts independent science or protects environmental justice communities because truth and justice are obstacles to their profit-seeking agenda.”
She also dismissed the administration’s cited “updated scientific data” as a sham, likely originating from industry-funded think tanks.
“This is a page straight out of the tobacco industry’s playbook: when the science is against you, create your own,” said McCormick. “They are trying to launch a misinformation campaign to provide legal cover for their crimes against our planet.”
“We must not stand for this,” said McCormick. “We must mobilize, we must comment, we must litigate, and we must expose every last corrupt official who puts polluter profits ahead of the people they are sworn to protect. The American people see this betrayal for what it is, and we will fight it with every tool we have to ensure a livable planet for future generations.”
"We have entered what scientists call the Sixth Mass Extinction,” said McCormick. “All mammals and many other species face death unless radical changes are made to stop the harmful environmental impact of human industrial activity. Already, thousands of lifeforms have disappeared due to global warming, plastic pollution, chemical contamination, and territorial encroachment."
EPA “intends to reconsider all of its prior regulations and actions that rely on the Endangerment Finding.”
A Supreme Court ruling held that greenhouse gases are air pollutants, and the states may sue the United States Environmental Protection Agency if it fails to properly regulate these pollutants.
Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, 549 U.S. 497 (2007), is a 5–4 U.S. Supreme Court case in which Massachusetts, along with 11 other states and several US cities, sued the EPA to force the federal agency to regulate the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) that pollute the environment and contribute to climate change. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, finding that greenhouse gases qualify as air pollutants.
The plaintiffs were the states of California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, the cities of New York, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., the territory of American Samoa, and the organizations Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety, Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Advocates, Environmental Defense, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, International Center for Technology Assessment, National Environmental Trust, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Union of Concerned Scientists, and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
Climate risks are threatening the world's energy and food security, ecosystems, infrastructure, water resources, financial stability, and people’s health.
Extreme heat, drought, wildfires, and flooding, as experienced in recent years, will worsen even under the most optimistic global warming scenarios and affect living conditions throughout the continent.
Government policies and adaptation actions are not keeping pace with the rapidly growing risks. In many cases, incremental adaptation will not be sufficient and, as many measures to improve climate resilience require a long time, urgent action may be needed even on risks that are not yet critical.
McCormick is a progressive Democrat and anti-corruption advocate from New Jersey. She challenged incumbent Senator Bob Menendez in the 2018 Democratic primary, earning 38% of the vote with a people-powered campaign.
She advocates for a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and bold, urgent action to combat climate change and hold corporate polluters accountable, in addition to a bold economic platform based on Huey Long's 1934 Share Our Wealth plan.
