Environmental advocates on Tuesday urged Philadelphians to make their voices heard on a Trump administration proposal to repeal a key ruling underpinning much of the federal government’s efforts to combat climate change.
In late July, Lee Zeldin, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, moved to rescind the 2009 ‘endangerment finding,’ the legal basis for limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
The finding designated certain gases as pollutants harmful to human health. If Zeldin’s plan is approved, the EPA would no longer have the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, power plants, factories and other sources.
“The Trump EPA is trying to revoke the cornerstone of federal climate policy because they don’t give a damn about us,” said Alex Bomstein, executive director of the Clean Air Council. “They don’t care if our cities drown in the rising seas. They don’t care if we bake in our apartments. We have to stop this.”
Bomstein and other speakers addressed attendees at a rally Tuesday afternoon at Love Park. The EPA is accepting written comments on the endangerment finding through Sept. 22.
“Why take away the very foundation of clean air?” City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier said. “So the fossil fuel industry and their MAGA investors can make more money while our children pay the price.”
Without the endangerment finding, the EPA would be able to eliminate seven vehicle regulations, lowering the cost of purchasing cars, federal officials have argued. Undoing the regulations “would end $1 trillion or more in hidden taxes on American businesses and families,” Zeldin said in a statement announcing the proposal.
Under President Barack Obama, the EPA made “mental leaps” to connect carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles to climate change and danger to human health and welfare, the agency claimed in a July news release.
“In the last 16 years, the climate science has not only reaffirmed the endangerment finding, but it’s been overwhelming,” said Dr. Walter Tsou, a former Philadelphia health commissioner who is now a member of Physicians for Social Responsibility.
Organizers at Tuesday’s rally handed out blue “climate can’t wait” T-shirts, set up a sign-making table and helped people submit testimony on the federal policy change under consideration.
“This is a flawed interpretation of the science and of the Environmental Protection Agency’s obligations under the law,” Jessica O’Neill, managing attorney for litigation at PennFuture, said. “The suggestion that the agency can just skip out on its responsibilities to regulate pollutants that impact human health and the environment is simply unsupportable.
“It’s not based on the law. It’s not based on the law at all. That’s not what this is about. This is a political decision to not care about our health, to not care about our environment and to not care about the future of our climate and our children.”
People can submit comments online through Regulations.gov by searching for the Docket ID EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0194. Testimony is also being accepted through email at a-and-r-Docket@epa.gov (put Docket ID number in subject line) and through the U.S. Postal Service.
Public hearings on the matter were held in late August. More than 84,000 comments have been submitted virtually.
