By Pam McVety
I don’t like being lied to, nor do most of you, but that is exactly what the Environmental Protection Agency is doing. There is so much misinformation coming from our president and his administration, it is hard to keep up with them or understand how they affect us, but this one is the “mother of all lies” and it will hurt us.
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to rescind the 2009 endangerment finding under the Clean Air Act, which said that greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution and endanger public health. Surely by now, each of you knows that this is true, right? Pretty much everyone understands that our rising carbon emissions are leading to warmer, more destructive weather including more violent hurricanes.
Tallahassee has experienced it. The nightmarish tornado outbreak that swept through our neighborhoods in April 2024 cost us over $63 million. Local friends have seen their homes damaged repeatedly by our increasingly violent weather and this is happening all over the country and the world.
So, why in God’s name would our federal government propose a rule that puts us in more danger by eliminating its authority to regulate greenhouse gas (carbon) emissions?
We all know the answer. Our federal government is being administered to accommodate the rich and powerful, like the fossil fuel industry. It is not being run to protect or help us. This proposed rule revision, in part, is to help the auto industry, and I am not even sure that all segments of the industry support it. It will remove the regulations that require vehicles to reduce their carbon emissions. It will also potentially help power plants and other industries not have to reduce their carbon emissions.
And wait for it, here is the worse part: The EPA announced that, “By repealing all greenhouse gas emission regulations for motor vehicles and engines, we are reinstating consumer choice and giving Americans the ability to purchase a safe and affordable car for their family, while decreasing the cost of living on all products that trucks deliver.” This is greenwashing.
They are justifying this rule by suggesting that not regulating carbon emissions will make the price of vehicles and goods cheaper for you. Don’t fall for this. The costs of dealing with the climate crisis, which will worsen if we don’t cut our carbon emissions, are a lot more serious and costly than the cost of a vehicle or the products that trucks deliver. They are in the hundreds of billions of dollars annually and are increasing. Lives are being lost; millions of them each year due to the burning of fossil fuels and human suffering is unmeasurable.
For verification of this, I refer you to the Fifth National Climate Assessment and the Sixth IPCC Assessment.
I’m hoping you will join me in voicing your objection to the EPA about rescinding its authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. You have until Sept. 15. Your comments can be as simple as I object to this rule because it will hurt my family.
Send your comments to a-************@*pa.gov. To read more about this rule go to EPA proposed rule, visit: “Reconsideration of 2009 Endangerment Finding and Greenhouse Gas Vehicle Standards.”
There is a lot at stake here and contrary to EPA’s claim that this will help you financially, there is more than your family budget at stake. History will show that this may be the single most egregious action this administration took, unless they get us in a nuclear war. It is a blatant disregard for our health and safety or your pocketbook. It is not rational nor is it based on science or reality.
Rescinding the endangerment finding will hurt us in Tallahassee. It will hurt our children and our grandchildren. It will hurt our neighbors near and far. We cannot afford to ignore this.
Pam McVety of Tallahassee is a retired environmental scientist and climate justice advocate. This opinion piece was originally published by the Tallahassee Democrat, which is a media partner of The Invading Sea. Banner photo: Pollution is released from a smokestack (iStock image).
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