Ignoring the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions will lead to poorer health for Americans, according to environmental health leaders who are speaking out against a new threat to science from the Trump administration.

Lee Zeldin, secretary of the Environmental Protection Agency, is urging President Donald Trump behind the scenes to reverse a federal endangerment finding that recognizes the role of greenhouse gas emissions on rising temperatures, according to a Feb. 26 report from the The Washington Post.

“The issues around greenhouse gases are settled science,” APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin, MD, said at a Feb. 27 news briefing. “This is not debatable stuff. There are hundreds and hundreds of studies that have shown the risk and the impact of greenhouse gases on our health every day.”

The 2009 endangerment finding, issued by EPA, classified carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases as pollutants that pose a threat to public health and welfare. EPA determined that rising greenhouse gas emissions lead to more frequent heat waves, exacerbate air quality issues, worsen extreme weather events, and increase the spread of diseases and allergens.

The impacts could lead to more heat-related deaths, cases of asthma and other respiratory diseases, and infectious disease outbreaks, the findings said. Rising temperatures also contribute to the spread of food- and waterborne-illnesses and diseases transmitted by insects.

The EPA finding has been used to regulate emissions from motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources under the federal Clean Air Act.

“If Zeldin succeeds in steering the EPA off course, he is condemning us and our children and the future of his children, to longer and more intense heat waves, to more extreme storms and relentless wildfire seasons that bring with them unbreathable and deadly air,” said Stephanie Reese, MBA, director of strategic implementation and justice at Mom's Clean Air Force.

The 2009 endangerment finding came two years after Massachusetts v. EPA, a U.S. Supreme Court cases that ruled greenhouse gases are air pollutants and EPA is obligated to assess their potential harm to public health under the Clean Air Act. During his confirmation hearing, Zeldin argued the decision authorized EPA to act on greenhouse gases, but does not require it.

If the Trump administration does repeal the findings, current EPA climate work that regulates pollution standards and regulations would falter, experts say. But the rollbacks may not stand up to challenges.

“The courts have repeatedly upheld EPA legal authority and its scientific conclusions,” said David Doniger, JD, MCP, senior attorney and strategist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “If EPA goes through with this, we'll see them in court, and I'm very confident that it won't stand.”

EPA's operations are already being hindered by the Trump administration's slashing of federal workforce, which could become more severe. During a cabinet meeting on Feb. 26, President Trump said 65% of EPA employees would be fired, The New York Times reported. However, an EPA official later said he was referring to a 65% cut in the agency's budget.

“Trump's assault on the EPA is about giving polluters a free pass,” Rep. Maxine Dexter, MD, D-Ore., said. “We will use every tactic at our disposal to push back, and this multi-front battle depends on you all — depends on us standing with you all — as we fight back and stay loud, maintain the public pressure, and do not take anything but protection for our environment as an answer.”

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