By: Maria Finnegan, National Field Manager, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: October 1, 2025
About: EPA Docket No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0186-0001, Reconsideration of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program
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 most importantly, I’m the mother of a four-year-old boy.
I am here today to urge you not to repeal the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. Collecting accurate climate pollution data is essential. Without it, we cannot address the harmful impacts of global warming that our families and communities are already experiencing. Eliminating this program would make climate change more expensive, more dangerous, and far more difficult to solve.
I want to begin by thanking you again and recognizing this moment. In the midst of everything you are managing in your professional lives, I am grateful you are taking the time to hear our testimony. Like many of you, I’m juggling different roles today myself—though in another way. As soon as this hearing ends, I’ll be driving down to Boston, Massachusetts to see one of my health specialists, a cardiologist. Living with a chronic condition means I rely on doctors to monitor my vital signs and collect data that keeps me healthy. Without that information, my health—and my ability to be the parent my son needs—would be at risk.
It is no different with climate science. Just as doctors can’t treat patients without accurate medical data, scientists can’t protect people or the planet without accurate greenhouse gas reporting. We need this program to safeguard our health, our communities, and our children’s future.
This past summer was my toughest yet. Like many people living with Dysautonomia, I suffer most in extreme heat—and New Hampshire is seeing more and more of it. Heat domes and stagnant air made it harder for me to breathe, left me lightheaded, and triggered chest pains. At the same time, smoke from wildfires blanketed our community, trapping toxic air in place. There were days where I struggled to catch my breath, and felt my heart racing when sitting calmly on the couch. Because of these symptoms, my doctor ordered me to wear a special heart monitor for seven days to track what was happening inside my body. Today I will discuss the data that monitor collected with my doctor and learn what we can do to help treat my symptoms.
The irony of this moment was not lost on me: the worsening impacts of climate change were making me sick—and the only way to protect my health is through careful monitoring. The same is true for our planet. Without greenhouse gas reporting, we lose the ability to see what’s happening, to understand the damage, and to take action. How can we protect our planet if we don’t know how sick it is? How can we treat an illness if we don’t know it’s happening?
And it is happening right here in New Hampshire. I grew up in this state, and when I moved back in 2018, I found a climate that felt completely changed. We’re now seeing extreme heat, flooding, and drought—often all in the same year. Right now, one-third of our state is in extreme drought, with rainfall down by as much as 75%. Farmers are watching their crops fail, just months after heavy spring rains already damaged their fields. These unpredictable swings are devastating families and livelihoods across our communities. As a mother, I can’t help but see a terrifying future for my son, where extreme weather will threaten both his health and safety. We all want the best for our children, so why would be purposely ignore information that can help protect them?
Without greenhouse gas reporting, we lose the very data we need to connect these impacts to pollution, to understand what’s driving them, and to take action to protect people. Global warming is making life dangerous in my little state, and it is hurting our health and our futures. We are getting sick, without data, we will get sicker. I urge you to please keep the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, for my health and my son’s health, and for yours.