Dear Administrator Zeldin:<\/p>\n
I write to you not only as Governor of California \u2014 the fourth largest economy in\u00a0the world \u2014 but as the leader of a state whose people must live with the daily\u00a0consequences of your agency\u2019s failures.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s (EPA) proposal to reverse the\u00a0scientific finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare is not just\u00a0putting politics over evidence, it is bad policy, a dereliction of duty, a moral abdication,\u00a0and a betrayal of the very mission entrusted to you.<\/p>\n
The Clean Air Act could not be clearer: EPA has an affirmative duty to protect\u00a0public health and welfare from air pollutants, including greenhouse gases. The Supreme\u00a0Court affirmed this responsibility in 2007, ruling that greenhouse gases are pollutants\u00a0subject to regulation. Indeed, in your own confirmation hearing, you acknowledged\u00a0that the Clean Air Act gives EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gases as\u00a0pollutants. EPA\u2019s 2009 Endangerment Finding recognizes that these emissions threaten\u00a0the health and welfare of current and future generations. The evidence supporting this\u00a0is well-documented and settled. And yet, you are now proposing to ignore binding law,\u00a0overwhelming science, and lived reality.<\/p>\n
That is not discretion \u2014 it is negligence. It is unlawful. It will cause great harm to\u00a0the American people.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The cost of EPA\u2019s surrender will be measured in human lives and economic\u00a0devastation. In California alone:<\/p>\n
Wildfires fueled by rising temperatures have killed hundreds, destroyed entire\u00a0communities and tens of thousands of homes, and caused tens of billions of\u00a0dollars in damages.
\nExtreme heat is now the deadliest climate impact, responsible for more annual\u00a0deaths than wildfires and floods.
\nDrought has cost California\u2019s agricultural economy billions, threatening food\u00a0production nationwide and harming family farmers.
\nIn recent years, climate-driven floods caused an estimated $5 billion in damages,\u00a0devastating families and businesses alike. <\/p>\n
Nationwide, the picture is no less dire: In 2023 alone, the United States endured\u00a028 separate climate-driven weather disasters exceeding $1 billion in damage each \u2014 the highest number ever recorded \u2014 claiming more than 400 American lives and\u00a0causing $92 billion in damages.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the face of all that, you are suggesting that climate change doesn\u2019t endanger us all. Seriously?\u00a0<\/p>\n
EPA\u2019s decision to advance this proposal is not only inconsistent with science, it is\u00a0inconsistent with the law. It fails to meet your statutory obligations under the Clean Air\u00a0Act. It violates the principles laid out by the Supreme Court. It disregards the wealth of\u00a0scientific evidence and research underlying the 2009 Endangerment Finding. And in\u00a0doing so, it abdicates EPA\u2019s responsibility to the American people.<\/p>\n
By siding with polluters over science, EPA is telling wildfire victims to ignore the\u00a0flames, flood victims to ignore the rising water, and parents of asthmatic children to\u00a0ignore the dirty air that chokes their respiratory systems and takes their breath away.\u00a0That is not leadership \u2014 it is an insult.<\/p>\n
California will not stand by. We will continue to lead, because we have no\u00a0choice; the lives and livelihoods of our people depend on it. But history will ask: where\u00a0was the EPA \u2014 the agency created to protect Americans \u2014 when the nation faced\u00a0the greatest environmental and public health crisis of our time?<\/p>\n
You still have a choice: honor the law, follow the credible and established\u00a0science, and fulfill your duty to the American people. Or go down in history as the\u00a0administration that abandoned its mission, betrayed its mandate, and failed its country.<\/p>\n
Sincerely,<\/p>\n
Gavin Newsom
Governor of California<\/p>\n
California\u2019s climate leadership<\/p>\n
Pollution is down and the economy is up. Greenhouse gas emissions in California are down 20% since 2000<\/a> \u2013 even as the state\u2019s GDP increased 78% in that same time period as California grew to become the world\u2019s fourth largest economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n The state also continues to set clean energy records. California was powered by two-thirds clean energy in 2023<\/a>, the latest year for which data is available \u2013 the largest economy in the world to achieve this level of clean energy. The state has run on 100% clean electricity for some part of the day almost every day this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since the beginning of the Newsom Administration, battery storage is up<\/a> to over 15,000 megawatts \u2013 a 1,900%+ increase, and over 25,000 megawatts of new resources<\/a> have been added to the electric grid.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dear Administrator Zeldin: I write to you not only as Governor of California \u2014 the fourth largest economy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-176107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}