By Paul Roberts / For The Herald
President Trump has repeatedly labelled climate change a “hoax” and a “scam.” His administration has recently taken two significant actions in its war on climate science, both undermining the nation’s Clean Air Act.
In August, the Trump Environmental Protection Agency proposed the repeal of the agency’s 2009 endangerment finding that greenhouse gas emissions threaten public health, providing the legal basis for regulating greenhouse gases. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said: “We are driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age.” Added Energy Secretary Chris Wright: “Climate alarmism has reduced freedom, prosperity, and national security.”
This month EPA plans to stop accounting for the health benefits from curbing two of the most deadly forms of air pollution: fine particulate matter and ozone. The New York Times reports: “The change could make it easier to repeal limits on these pollutants from coal-burning power plants, oil refineries, steel mills and other industrial facilities. EPA would no longer take health effects into account in the cost-benefit analysis necessary for clean-air regulations.”
These actions by EPA remove the value of human life from the equation.
The Clean Air Act was first adopted in 1963 and substantially amended and expanded in 1970 under President Nixon, and again in 1990 under President Bush. The act has consistently received bipartisan support.
The goal of the CAA is to protect public health and welfare from harm and hazards posed by air pollution. It has substantially reduced air pollution and improved U.S. air quality. The EPA in the past credited the CAA with saving trillions of dollars and thousands of lives each year.
Pollutants specifically regulated under the CAA include sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, lead, ozone and particulate matter. Carbon dioxide was added in 1971 along with volatile organic compounds and mercury.
The 2009 Endangerment Finding found that “six greenhouse gases taken in combination endanger both the public health and welfare of current and future generations.” It is the basis for regulating air pollution, protecting public health and welfare and was based on a Technical Support Document summarizing available peer reviewed scientific literature.
Health risks from these pollutants include asthma, cardiovascular disease, heart and lung disease and premature death. Economic costs include climate impacts — heat, fires, storms, floods and droughts — and health care costs to workers who suffer prolonged exposure to heat and pollution.
The proposed repeal of the 2009 Endangerment Finding was not based on peer-reviewed science. Rather, it was based on a report written by five scientists hand-picked by the administration who reject the global scientific consensus that burning oil, gas and coal is dangerously heating the planet. Their report reflects recommendations contained in Project 2025 to reduce or eliminate regulations on the fossil fuel industry. It flies in the face of thousands of peer-reviewed studies gathered over 70 years from around the world.
Recognizing that significantly more is known today than in 2009, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine published a study to review newly available scientific evidence. The report titled: ““Effects of Human-Caused Greenhouse Gas Emissions on U.S. Climate, Health and Welfare” is an excellent comprehensive study of the impacts of climate change on health and the economy.
So, what has changed since 2009? Well, for starters, the 10 warmest years on record have all occurred in the past decade (2015 to 2024). 2025 is now officially the third warmest year on record, continuing the trend.
Heat drives climate impacts: extreme heat, wildfires, floods, and droughts. These have grown stronger over time, increasing in frequency, intensity and severity, setting records in terms of costs to human health, the economy and environment.
Space does not permit a full accounting of the NAS study. However, top-of-line findings include:
• “EPA’s 2009 finding that the human-caused emissions of GHGs (greenhouse gasses) threaten human health and welfare was accurate, has stood the test of time, and is now reinforced by even stronger evidence.”
• Emissions of GHGs from human activities are increasing the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere.
• Improved observations confirm unequivocally that GHG emissions are warming Earth’s surface and changing Earth’s climate.
• Human-caused emissions of GHGs and resulting climate change harm the health and welfare of people in the United States.
• Continued emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities will lead to more climate changes in the United States, with the severity of expected changes increasing with every ton of greenhouse gases emitted.
In summary, the committee concludes that the evidence of current and future harm to human health and welfare created by human-caused GHGs is “beyond scientific dispute.”
The EPA’s proposals to repeal the Endangerment Finding and only account for regulatory costs to businesses, will endanger public health and welfare. It’s an abandonment of EPA’s core mission and that of the Clean Air Act. The Trump administration is protecting the fossil fuel industry at the expense of public health and welfare.
Paul Roberts is retired and lives in Everett. His career spans five decades in infrastructure, economics and environmental policy including former chair of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency Board and advising Washington cities on climate change.
Eco-nomics
“Eco-nomics” is a series of articles exploring issues at the intersection of climate change and economics. Climate change (global warming) is caused by greenhouse gas emissions — carbon dioxide and methane chiefly — generated by human activities, primarily burning fossil fuels and agricultural practices. Global warming poses an existential threat to the planet. Successfully responding to this threat requires urgent actions — clear plans and actionable strategies — to rapidly reduce GHG emissions and adapt to climate-influenced events.
The Eco-nomics series focuses on mitigation and adaptation strategies viewed through the twin perspectives of science and economics. Find links to the series thus far at tinyurl.com/HeraldEco-nomics.
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