EPA’s move is a corruption of the agency’s mission to protect human health
CONTACT: DKC News, MomsCleanAirForce@dkcnews.com
Pittsburgh, PA (February 13, 2026) — Moms Clean Air Force, elected officials, and local advocates gathered in Pittsburgh on February 13 for a press conference to denounce the EPA’s reckless decision to revoke the Endangerment Finding and clean vehicle standards. The Endangerment Finding provides the legal foundation for EPA regulations that protect people in the U.S. from some of the largest sources of climate pollution, including power plants and transportation. This repeal is an attempt to leave EPA powerless to limit the pollution that is heating up the planet and supercharging dangerous extreme weather.
Speakers outlined how this decision threatens the health of our families—especially our children—and drives up costs at a time when the prices of health care and insurance premiums are already soaring.
Watch the recording here.
QUOTES FROM SPEAKERS AND PARTNERS:
PA State Rep. Many Steele, PA House District 33
“There is scientific consensus that greenhouse gases emitted from sources like cars, trucks and power plants contribute significantly to climate change. It is appalling that this administration would fly in the face of scientific consensus.”
Lissa Geiger Shulman, Allegheny County Councilperson-Elect
“Acknowledging and responding to climate change is our duty as public officials. People in our communities are already being harmed by climate change – from more severe storms that endanger lives and property, to conditions that favor the spread of disease, to ballooning utility prices that make living unaffordable. Our governments at every level have a responsibility to keep people safe, and that means listening to scientists and taking immediate action to slow climate change, not speed it up.”
Vanessa Lynch, Pennsylvania Field Organizer, Moms Clean Air Force
“The impacts of climate change are not abstract – families like mine are living them everyday. By dismissing the science, ignoring the health impacts in our communities, and repealing the Endangerment Finding, the EPA is choosing polluters over children and putting public health at risk.”
Matt Mehalik, Executive Director, The Breathe Collaborative
“These misguided rollbacks will result in an increase in fossil fuel consumption and associated increased adverse health impacts, such as mortality, acute bronchitis, respiratory emergency room visits, and work-loss days as a result of increases in emissions of greenhouse gases and additional combustion-related pollutants. Allegheny County ranks in the top 2 percent of counties in the U.S. for cancer risk from toxic air pollution. The latest certified EPA data shows that one air monitor in our county registered pollution concentrations worse than 95% of the U.S. and one worse than 87%. This results in extra deaths: at least 600 extra deaths per year from pollution in Allegheny County. Why would anyone want to perpetuate the harms to our region’s people?”
Matthew Shorraw, Policy and Program Coordinator, Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) Pennsylvania
“Revoking the Endangerment Finding undermines the work that we do in ensuring that we address climate change. This will make it harder for us to address public health outcomes related to climate change and also make it harder for us to support frontline communities with real solutions that impact their daily lives.”
Dr. Robert Sroufe, Professor of Sustainability and the Falk Chair of Socially Responsible Business, Chatham University
“Repealing the Endangerment Finding isn’t just misguided—it’s dangerous and reckless, stripping away the EPA’s legal authority to protect Americans from pollution that is already harming our health and communities.”
Sophia Tai, Youth Climate Advocate
“The environment has already changed so much, we need to mitigate the negative effects for my generation, who will be some of those most impacted by the Endangerment Finding being revoked.”