On Thursday, Feb. 12, President Donald Trump, alongside the Environmental Protection Agency, moved to repeal the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, a regulation outlining that greenhouse gases endanger public health and the environment.
Eliminating this legal foundation not only strips $8 billion in funding for clean energy projects but also completely disregards the well-being of communities, as evidenced by worsening air quality, increasing heat-related illnesses and threatening respiratory health across the country.
Many public health advocates have stated this scientific determination was essential to protecting the Earth and the health of its people. Prevalent natural disasters, such as forest fires and flash floods, have been severely exacerbated by climate change.
“Global warming will cause the ice sheets to melt and cause the sea level to rise. This will reduce the amount of habitat for Arctic animals, change migratory patterns for animals of the land, sea, and air,” said AP Environmental teacher Zachary Marotta. “An increase in global temperature will also cause more severe droughts and wildfires.”
The Trump administration’s new policy compounds the already irrevocable damages of global warming; it is an overt act of negligence on the environment’s health and a rejection of established science.
When questioned about the decision, Trump remarked on global warming as a whole. “This determination had no basis in fact— none whatsoever. Over the generations, fossil fuels have saved millions of lives and lifted billions of people out of poverty all over the world,” he said.
However, those deeply embedded in climate regulation have pushed back against that rationale. “This reckless and legally untenable decision creates immediate uncertainty for businesses, guarantees prolonged legal battles and undermines the stability of federal climate regulations,” said Environmental Law & Policy Center attorney Brian Lynk.
As manufacturers are no longer required to meet strict greenhouse gas emission limitations, large corporations will extensively abuse this power. While that may lower production and transportation costs in the short term, it puts communities in the United States on a path towards serious environmental harm.
The effects of global warming have already impacted the Quad Cities. The Davenport and Bettendorf areas have reached an all-time high risk for tornadoes, amassing a 70%-80% likelihood; winters are getting warmer, and the impacts go beyond just recreational activities available in the area.
The Quad Cities yields approximately 69 million gallons of storm runoff, 3 million pounds of air pollution and more than 100,000 tons of carbon pollution annually. These factors significantly threaten the survival of the Quad Cities’ urban forest and the health of its residents.
“With the new EPA rulings, gas-powered vehicles and coal-powered power plants will have less regulations in their emissions, which will lead to more greenhouse gases and air pollution being emitted,” Marotta said. “These things will lead to an increase in the effects of climate change and poor public health.”
Beyond the environmental damage to which the Quad Cities is subjected, the actions of the E.P.A. now face the dilemma of whether or not the gutting of major climate regulations was legally permissible.
Environmentalists have acted quickly on this matter. This Wednesday, Feb. 18, large environmental organizations sued the E.P.A. over the major rollback on federal climate regulations. Furthermore, these groups challenged the administration’s abandonment of its core responsibilities to the American people.
As these environmentalists and climate change regulators continue to fight for power in controlling global warming, it is the responsibility of citizens to reduce their carbon footprints and promote sustainable transportation.
Senior Prasanna Senthil Kumar shared his opinions on how climate change is a real issue. “Multiple pieces of evidence point to the fact that greenhouse gases do endanger public health,” he said. “The people in the Quad Cities need to start making daily changes to ensure that we are doing everything we can to help our environment, whether that is recycling correctly, using automotive transportation less or using clean energy instead of burning fossil fuels.”
Repealing Obama’s 2009 Endangerment Finding was purely a political decision; the health of the planet and its people were small sacrifices.
