July 29, 2025
In an unprecedented and paradoxical move, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the federal agency tasked with protecting human health and the environment, today released a proposal to rescind the scientific and legal foundation that allows the federal government to limit pollution that causes climate change. The 2009 Endangerment Finding relies on decades of scientific research demonstrating the harms of fossil fuel pollution on human health and the environment.
For hundreds of thousands of years, atmospheric carbon dioxide fluctuated between 170 and 300 parts per million due to natural variations and carbon sinks. Beginning in 1950, widespread burning of fossil fuels overwhelmed this cycle, and carbon began accumulating in the atmosphere. On March 7 of this year, the reading set a record of over 430 ppm for the first time in millions of years. Last year was the planet’s hottest year on record.
Climate change from fossil fuel emissions has contributed to deadly extreme weather events, such as flooding in Texas, Los Angeles wildfires, flooding from Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, and 70 days in a row of 110-degree heat in Phoenix, AZ. It has also increased the spread of diseases such as Zika, Lyme disease, and Malaria, and threatened crops and global food security.
Repealing the Endangerment Finding eliminates the federal government’s authority to regulate climate-changing emissions from power plants, factories, and automobiles. It will also eliminate the federal government’s ability to regulate tailpipe pollution, incentivizing automakers to continue manufacturing large gas-guzzlers and discouraging the widespread transition to electric vehicles. This will exacerbate climate change and the deadly and catastrophic weather events associated with it.
“The administration is making climate denial the official policy of the U.S. government,” said Joel Levin, Plug In America’s executive director. “The rest of the world is moving forward with clean energy and electric vehicles, while this administration is prioritizing polluters and short-term profits over people and the planet and turning the United States from global leaders to followers.”
About Plug In America
Plug In America is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the use of plug-in electric vehicles in the United States through education, advocacy and research. Formed in 2008, Plug In America provides practical, objective information to consumers and dealerships about EVs through various programs, including National Drive Electric Week, Drive Electric Earth Month, PlugStar.com, and other public outreach events. Learn more at PlugInAmerica.org.
Media contact: Lindsey Perkins
