Comment Period Open to Stop EPA’s ‘Climate Cleanse’ August 26, 2025

Purging Toxic GHG from the Clean Energy Act Gives Fossil Fuel a Boost

Groundbreaking and controversial 16 years ago, the EPA’s decision to include greenhouse gases in its list of toxic pollution is today the target of the Trump administration as it moves to erase all mention of GHG from the national energy conversation.

Sec. of Defense Chris Wright, a zealous gas fracking entrepreneur, and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, no shrinking violet in his anti-climate change rhetoric, are leading the charge to overturn the “Endangerment Finding” that in 2009 added greenhouse gases to the EPA Clean Air Act. Doing so recognized the public health dangers inherent in fossil-fueled energy and raised the bar for climate science.

In the new Trump administration, the concerns are irrelevant. “We want to end the cancel culture Orwellian future reality we’ve been in where climate change is not treated as a serious science [but] is treated as a political force to silence and shame people,” Wright said to Politico. It is a political talking point that Wright uses frequently to disparage climate activists as using intimidation and alarmist rhetoric to control the narrative.

If DOE and EPA succeed, the climate pollutants now recognized as regulated health hazards will be wiped from the books. The most direct result will be increased numbers of lung diseases, particularly asthma in children, that proliferate in urban neighborhoods. Particularly those that are marginalized by poverty and often located near freeways and other high-trafficked areas of our cities where ozone and particle pollution are invisible killers.

Like in Phoenix, ranked the 4th worst city for high ozone days out of 228 metropolitan areas, 28th worst for 24-hour particle pollution out of 225 metropolitan areas, and the 20th worst for annual particulate pollution out of 208 metropolitan areas, according to the American Lung Association. Pima County and Tucson aren’t on any of the association’s top good or bad lists but get an F for the number of high ozone alerts issued annually (an average of 4.3 days total).

GHGs include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and industrial gases, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3).

That mouthful of toxic gases is of little concern to Wright and Zeldin. While giving a keynote speech earlier this year, Wright assured the audience that the Trump administration will treat climate change “for what it is, a global physical phenomenon that is a side effect of building the modern world. … Everything in life involves trade-offs.”

If you don’t want to see any more of these “trade-offs” — up to 2 million new cases of childhood asthma each year globally — then this is the time to act.

Beginning now through September 22, the public comment phase of DOE’s plans to gut the Clean Air Act is open for your input. In 2009, when the EPA was considering adding GHG to the act, the agency received 300,000 opinions from the public.

We need to rally our friends and talk to our neighbors about the consequences of the EPA’s actions — and the DOE’s plans to rewrite the official Trump version of climate change. The vote on axing GHGs at the EPA level will not only disrupt an untold number of related legislation and activities at the federal level, it will endanger our air and water locally.

Released in late July,  “A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate” was written by five scientists chosen by Wright, all of whom are doubters of global warming as an existential threat. This is the framework around which the DOE and other agencies will consider future legislation to reconstitute the fossil fuel discussion and chart our energy portfolio.

How to Get Started

A little homework and poking around on the following pages will clarify the process.  

Regulation main page: www.regulations.gov/document/EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0194-0093

Make a comment at www.regulations.gov/commenton/EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0194-0093

Read comments made to date: www.regulations.gov/document/EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0194-0093/comment

More information:

Commenter’s Checklist: A worthy guide to the procedure itself and how to write effective comments

DOE’s 8 Talking Points, scroll to “Overview of the CWG Report”

Original Endangerment Finding, 2009 EPA: www.epa.gov/climate-change/endangerment-and-cause-or-contribute-findings-greenhouse-gases-under-section-202a

Tip: Skim through the comments to date to get an idea of what people are targeting as their key concerns, pro and con.

Other Resources 

EPA Releases Proposal to Rescind Obama-Era Endangerment Finding, Regulations that Paved the Way for Electric Vehicle Mandates Read Here

ICYMI: Energy Secretary: The World Needs More Reliable American Energy  Read Here

EPA’s Climate Rollback Plan Adds to Power Sector Instability Read Here

“A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate” Read Here

Chris Wright defends DOE report on climate change despite ‘small mistakes’ Read Here

Study Confirms Climate Models are Getting Future Warming Projections Right Read Here

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