By: Maria Finnegan, National Field Manager, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: August 21, 2025
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0194
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Maria Finnegan, and I live in the small town of Dublin, New Hampshire. I’m a National Field Manager for Moms Clean Air Force, and I’m the mother of a four-year-old boy who loves spending his days outside.
Climate change is changing our way of life here in the northeast, and it’s impacting our health. This summer has been particularly hard on my family. I’ve had to leave work to pick my son up early from day camp--not because he was homesick, but because he was physically sick from the heat. The building has no air conditioning, and with sweltering temperatures outside, there’s nowhere for him to find relief. He becomes pale, lethargic, and sick to his stomach in these high temperatures. No child should have to endure that, and no parent should have to choose between their job and their child’s health.
I also live with a chronic health condition, Dysautonomia, that’s made worse by extreme heat. This weather is not just uncomfortable for me, it is dangerous, just as it is for children, older adults, and people with other chronic health conditions.
That is why I am here to urge you: do not revoke the Endangerment Finding or the clean vehicle standards. Doing so would strip away critical protections that safeguard us from climate pollution and its many harms. This isn’t abstract--it’s happening now, and it’s affecting families like mine in real time.
I grew up in New Hampshire and returned in 2018, expecting the same crisp autumns and snowy winters of my childhood. Instead, I found December flooding, 60-degree days in February, and dangerous summer heat domes. Our winters are warming faster than almost anywhere else in the country, leading to earlier snowmelt, drier soils, and worsening summer droughts. We are also experiencing extreme rainfall events, putting our lives and livelihoods at risk.
Here, a 95-degree day is not “normal.” Most homes don’t have air conditioning, and our population--one of the oldest in the nation--is particularly vulnerable to heat-related illness. Climate change is already here, and it is making our communities less safe. We are not prepared, and we are in danger.
Upholding the Endangerment Finding is both a legal responsibility and a moral one. Preserving it means cleaner air, healthier families, stronger communities, and a safer future for our children. Please, protect these standards--and protect the people who depend on them. Thank you.