A Trump EPA proposal that will attack protections for our health and the environment

The White House Office of Management and Budget is now reviewing a Trump EPA proposal that, based on news reports, will attack two critically important protections for our health and the environment:

The Endangerment Finding – EPA’s science-based determination that climate pollution harms public health and welfare
EPA’s greenhouse gas pollution standards for new passenger vehicles and for medium and heavy-duty vehicles like delivery vans, freight trucks and buses. These standards are more commonly known as the Clean Car and Clean Truck Standards

Americans are facing deadly and growing threats from climate change and the stronger hurricanes, more powerful floods, and more frequent fires it causes. If Trump EPA head Lee Zeldin moves forward with these dangerous actions, it would mean more deadly pollution, hit Americans in their pocketbooks with higher insurance and fuel costs, and put millions of people in harm’s way.

The Endangerment Finding is the legal foundation that underpins vital protections for millions of people from the severe threats of climate change, and the Clean Car and Truck Standards are among the most important and effective protections to address the largest U.S. source of climate-causing pollution.

Attacking these safeguards is manifestly inconsistent with EPA’s responsibility to protect Americans’ health and well-being. It is callous, dangerous and a breach of our government’s responsibility to protect the American people from this devastating pollution.

Here’s more you should know about these safeguards:

The Endangerment Finding

EPA’s Endangerment Finding is supported by a mountain of scientific evidence that has grown larger and more compelling since it was first adopted in 2009

In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts v. EPA that greenhouse gases, which cause climate change, are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. The Court held that EPA must make a science-based determination about whether these pollutants endanger public health and welfare.
“The Clean Air Act’s sweeping definition of ‘air pollutant’ includes ‘any air pollution agent or combination of such agents, including any physical, chemical … substance or matter which is emitted into or otherwise enters the ambient air’ … On its face, the definition embraces all airborne compounds of whatever stripe, and underscores that intent through the repeated use of the word ‘any.' Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and hydrofluorocarbons are without a doubt ‘physical [and] chemical … substance[s] which [are] emitted into … the ambient air.’ The statute is unambiguous.” – Massachusetts v. EPA
In 2009, following extensive public input and the evaluation of voluminous scientific evidence, EPA finalized the Endangerment Finding – determining that climate pollution threatens the health and welfare of current and future generations.

Since 2009, the already indisputable evidence supporting the Endangerment Finding has only grown stronger

Global average temperatures have already risen 3°F since the pre-industrial era – and since 1970, the continental US. has been warming 60% faster than the global average.
8 of the 10 hottest years on record in the U.S. have occurred since 2009.
Americans are facing more frequent and intense extreme weather events.
Just one example of extreme weather, heat exposure, now causes thousands of deaths, more than 100,000 emergency room visits, and approximately $100 billion in lost labor productivity every year across America. (Find more details in this EDF fact sheet).
Since 2009, the U.S. has experienced 255 billion-dollar-plus disasters that have touched Americans in every state, costing more than $1.7 trillion in all.
EDF has just released a new map showing where these disasters have happened. You can see the map here.

The Endangerment Finding is based on a rock-solid legal foundation

Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts EPA and EPA’s finalization of the Endangerment Finding in 2009, courts have uniformly rejected legal challenges to the Endangerment Finding.
That includes decisions by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 2012 and 2023 that upheld the Endangerment Finding. The Supreme Court denied review in both instances.

The Endangerment Finding supports commonsense actions to reduce climate pollution and protect Americans

The Endangerment Finding supports common sense standards that cut pollution and save people money. These include standards for the largest sources of climate pollution, like power plants, transportation sources, and oil and gas operations.
Since the Endangerment Finding has been in place, these sources have reduced their climate pollution while experiencing enormous economic growth.
The Edison Electric Institute, the trade association representing investor-owned utilities, has recognized the importance of the Endangerment Finding, saying “electric companies need a consistent federal framework in place.”
The American Petroleum Institute, which represents oil and gas operators, has stated that the “federal government has a role in regulating greenhouse gas emissions.”
Undoing the Endangerment Finding would increase pollution and create enormous risks for businesses. As Jeff Holmstead, an industry attorney and a former EPA senior official in the George W. Bush administration, explained, "There is great concern that reversing the finding would open the door to a lot more nuisance lawsuits against all kinds of industrial companies … There is also concern that an effort to overturn the endangerment finding will not hold up in court.”

The Clean Car and Clean Truck Standards

EPA’s Clean Car and Clean Truck Standards have reduced pollution and saved people money

The transportation sector is the largest U.S. source of climate pollution, accounting for 29% of total emissions, and is a major source of other air pollutants that also harm human health.
Since EPA adopted the Endangerment Finding, EPA has set pollution standards for all new passenger vehicles (starting with model year 2012) and new freight trucks and buses (starting with model year 2014).
New passenger vehicles today emit 24% less climate pollution than they did in 2011, the year before the first EPA standard.
EPA’s most recent light and medium-duty standards and heavy-duty standards, together, will cut eight billion tons of climate pollution by 2055. That’s more than the total amount of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions last year.
The Clean Car and CleanTruck Standards will also reduce particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and other harmful air pollution responsible for premature deaths and heart and lung diseases.
EPA estimates show the benefits of these standards far outweigh their costs, with cumulative net benefits of $2.1 trillion through 2055 from the light-duty standards and $290 billion from the heavy-duty standards. These benefits include enormous savings for drivers who will be able to spend less money on fuel.

EPA’s Clean Car and Clean Truck Standards rest on time-tested legal authority and follow the agency’s traditional, performance-based approach

EPA’s Clean Car and Clean Truck Standards are firmly grounded in the agency’s long-standing obligation to protect public health.
EPA’s standards for new passenger vehicles and heavy-duty trucks and buses follow EPA’s decades-long approach to setting technology-neutral performance standards to reduce pollution. In setting these standards, EPA accounts for the cost of compliance and the lead time needed to permit technology development.
For instance, EDF analysis found that manufacturers could choose to comply with model year 2027 and later light-duty standards through a wide range of strategies (including without selling additional battery electric vehicles). However, electric vehicles are expected to be a popular choice because they are cost-effective for both manufacturers and consumers.

Clean vehicles save money for American families and businesses and support U.S. jobs

EPA found that consumers would save an average of $6,000 over the life of a new vehicle once the model year 2027 standards were phased in.
These standards will save about $46 billion in fuel costs and $16 billion in maintenance costs, on average, every year between 2027 and 2055.
Consumers are increasingly choosing clean vehicles. Nationally, more than 5 million electric vehicles were sold in 2024 – 10% of all new passenger vehicle sales in the U.S.
National electric vehicle sales in the first quarter of 2025 are up 11% year-over-year, according to Kelley Blue Book.
More than 110 models of electric vehicles are now available in the U.S.
Clean vehicles are helping to create manufacturing jobs in communities across the country. As of January 2025, auto manufacturers had announced investments of almost
$200 billion toward electric vehicle manufacturing in the U.S. and 195,000 new U.S. electric vehicle-related jobs. Those investment could also generate up to 826,000 additional jobs in the broader economy.
However, since President Trump took office, businesses have already canceled billions of dollars in planned electric vehicle manufacturing investments, with thousands of jobs lost. Congress’s decision to repeal core provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act puts more jobs at risk. Weakening or repealing EPA’s clean vehicle standards will further threaten these vital jobs and investments.

The Trump EPA’s expected attack on the Endangerment Finding and Clean Car and Clean Truck Standards would be deeply damaging given the devastating climate harms Americans are now experiencing and EPA’s clear obligation to protect Americans’ health and welfare.