On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed a slew of executive orders. The scariest one for Moms’ work is one that threatens the Endangerment Findings, which requires EPA to curb emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other climate pollutants. Couched under the language of “Unleashing American Energy,” this executive order is the first step in Trump’s clear intention to release any impediments to the global warming that is putting our weather on steroids—contributing to longer, more ferocious wildfire seasons, catastrophic superstorms, prolonged and record-breaking heat waves, and extended droughts—and harming the health of families and children.
Tell the Senate: Sound the Alarm on Reckless and Dangerous Cabinet Picks
“The terrible danger created by the Trump executive order around the ‘Endangerment Findings’ on climate pollution will be life-altering. With the stroke of a pen, Trump is attempting to end EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) through protections against industrial sources, cars and trucks, leaky oil and gas wells, and all other sources,” says Moms Clean Air Force Director & Co-Founder Dominique Browning.
A Supreme Court ruling established EPA’s authority to regulate GHGs under the Clean Air Act. The Endangerment Findings is an essential legal backbone to how we cut climate pollution from industrial sources. These emissions endanger our health and well-being, and it’s EPA’s job to protect us from these pollutants. This is long established.
Until this week. Now Trump’s executive order directs EPA to decide in the next 30 days if the Endangerment Findings is still valid and applicable. Dismantling it has been a top priority of Project 2025, the conservative policy blueprint that aims to dismantle democracy as we know it, and would leave the U.S. with no federal path in place for cutting climate pollution.
The question is: Will EPA nominee Lee Zeldin stand with settled law and follow the science to continue to protect millions of people from oil and gas, tailpipe, and smokestack pollution? Or will he deliver on this gift to Big Oil—which has made record profits in the last five years, pumped record amounts of crude oil, and benefited from billions in public subsidies? Time will tell, though we know in his confirmation hearing, Zeldin refused to say whether EPA must regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
“Put simply, eliminating the Endangerment Findings would endanger our country’s very ability to protect children and communities from the perilous—and even deadly—consequences of global warming,” says Dominique.
Tell the Senate: Sound the Alarm on Reckless and Dangerous Cabinet Picks