Holding the EPA Accountable

Climate action is increasingly under attack.  From removing critical data to attempting to repeal the legal basis for regulating pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seems committed to undoing the progress we’ve made and accelerating climate disruption. We must resist.

Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program Repeal

The EPA’s mission is to protect human health and the environment but they want to make it easier for large, industrial polluters to pollute with no public accountability by repealing the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program which requires the highest-polluting facilities and suppliers to report their annual emissions from over 47 pollutants. Because many of the most polluting industrial facilities are placed in low-income communities of color, eliminating this requirement will increase pollution in these beloved communities leading to bad air, water, and soil quality and increased threats to public health. This effort to repeal the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program aligns with the EPA’s recent move to eliminate the Endangerment Finding. Even if the Endangerment Finding survives the attempted repeal, without the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, we’ll have no way of knowing the levels of pollution, and there will be no means of accountability. 

For over 15 years, the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program required more than 8,000 of the highest-polluting facilities and suppliers to report their annual emissions from over 47 source categories. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the reporting program “burdensome” and “nothing more than bureaucratic red tape that does nothing to improve air quality.” This effort aligns with the EPA’s recent move to eliminate the Endangerment Finding which affirms that greenhouse gas emissions harm public health. The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is critical to measuring the pollution that drives climate change and disruption; repealing it would hamper climate progress and endanger public health. 

Further, because many of the most polluting industrial facilities are placed in low-income communities of color, eliminating the reporting requirement will increase pollution in these beloved communities leading to bad air, water, and soil quality. NAACP explains, “Toxic facilities, like coal-fired power plants and incinerators, emit mercury, arsenic, lead, and other contaminants into the water, food, and lungs of communities. Many of these same facilities also emit carbon dioxide and methane — the No. 1 and No. 2 drivers of climate change. But not all people are equally impacted. Race — even more than class — is the number one indicator for the placement of toxic facilities in this country hit by climate change.”  Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice supports UUs to prioritize justice in their climate actions; it’s a critical shift that is increasingly more important with each passing day.  

Submit a public comment to urge the EPA to uphold the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program for our health, for our communities, and for our future. Public comments are accepted until November 3, 2025.  

Take Action: 

• Public Comment

You may send comments, identified by Docket Id. No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0186, by any of the following methods:

1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0186/document.  Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.

2. Mail: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket Center, Office of Air and Radiation Docket, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460.

3. While it’s best to submit a personal public comment via the instructions above, you can also submit a pre-written comment at the Climate Reality Project. 

Resources

Read:

• Effects of Human-Caused Greenhouse Gas Emissions on U.S. Climate, Health, and Welfare - National Academies for Science, Engineering, and Medicine

• EPA proposal to repeal greenhouse gas reporting undermines transparency and accountability

• EPA to Stop Collecting Emissions Data from Polluters

Learn: 

• NAACP: Environmental & Climate Justice 

• Climate for Health: Climate Solutions Advocacy with Policy Makers

• Become a Climate for Health Ambassador with free, self-paced, online courses.

Endangerment Finding

The Environmental Protection Agency aims to repeal its own 2019 Endangerment Finding which forms the foundation for the EPA to regulate polluting greenhouse gas emissions and meaningfully respond to the climate crisis.  The EPA’s mission is to protect human health and the environment. Yet, the EPA is now moving to strip away protections that save lives while allowing fossil fuel companies to pollute at will. UUA President Sofía Betancourt is calling on all who care about our planet and its people to weigh in against this effort to rescind the basis for federal climate action.

Call To Action

UUs can fight against the EPA’s move to put polluters first at the expense of people and the planet.  There are still many opportunities to publicly denounce this attack, including:

• testifying at one of the public hearings, 

• submitting a public comment, 

• writing a letter to the editor, 

• distributing a press release, or

• posting on social media.  

Prepare your remarks.  Review the Climate Action Toolkit for messaging guidance.  

Overview of the epa’s endangerment finding

The EPA's endangerment finding, issued in 2009, declares that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare. This finding, mandated by the Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA, is the legal basis for the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. The finding specifically identifies six greenhouse gases and concludes that emissions from various sources, including motor vehicles, contribute to air pollution that endangers public health and welfare. 

Key aspects of the endangerment finding:

Legal Foundation:

The endangerment finding serves as the legal justification for the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. 

Greenhouse Gases:

The finding identifies six greenhouse gases as pollutants: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. 

Endangerment of Public Health and Welfare:

The EPA concluded that these greenhouse gases, due to their warming effect on the planet, endanger public health and welfare, including the health of current and future generations. 

Motor Vehicle Emissions:

The finding specifically addresses the contribution of greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles to the overall problem. 

Basis for Regulations:

The endangerment finding underpins various regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from different sectors, including vehicles, power plants, and other industries.