EPA Decision Will Put Harmful Chemicals into our Air and Cost Americans Billions

Washington, DC – Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reportedly planning to repeal the endangerment finding – its own longstanding legal framework for regulating climate pollution. With this decision, Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin would be burying decades of research and stripping the EPA’s ability to protect our families from dangerous pollution. For communities of color in particular — who already bear disproportionate impacts from climate pollution — this decision would be a punch in the gut. Trump promised his oil and gas campaign donors that he’d deliver for them, and he is granting yet another item on their wishlist at the expense of Americans’ health. 

Climate Power Senior Advisor Alex Witt issued the following statement: “This decision makes it abundantly clear that Trump is willing to make our families sicker and less safe, all to benefit a few billionaire polluters. Trump promised to ‘Make America Healthy Again’ – and instead, his EPA is allowing harmful chemicals into our air and water. This decision will cost billions of dollars each year in addition to putting Americans’ health at risk. Trump and Zeldin are telling our families: we’ll let you get sicker and watch your health care costs skyrocket as long as oil and gas CEOs can profit.”

Lee Zeldin and Donald Trump are hiding the truth to protect their industry donors, leaving our families to pay the price: 

• Pollution protections could have prevented “an estimated 30,000 deaths and saved $275 billion each year” in health care, gasoline, and other costs that are making America less affordable. 

• In 2024 alone, the United States experienced 27 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters threatening our infrastructure and local economies. 

• Families and communities are already paying the price of climate change. Health care bills are rising as childhood asthma increases, insurance premiums are soaring, and extreme weather is destroying homes, jobs, and crops. Without science-based protections, these costs will rise unabated. Families will face more hospital visits, more pollution-related illnesses, and more economic harm.

• These extreme events threaten our physical and mental health, as hotter days increase the risk of illness and medical emergencies. 

• Americans want protection from climate pollution: 75% say they want the government to protect families from carbon pollution. Yet, Zeldin and Trump are just protecting profits for billionaire CEOs.