Mass. environmentalists condemn EPA move to undo landmark climate regulation

Massachusetts environmental lawyers and advocates warned this week that a regulatory change proposed by the Trump administration will make it more difficult for the government to rein in climate change.

Lee Zeldin, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, announced Tuesday that his agency will take steps to overturn the “endangerment finding,” which gives the government the legal authority to regulate planet-warming emissions from cars and trucks, oil and gas industries and other sources.

The move comes as parts of New England are already experiencing extreme weather made worse by climate change. Such events include longer, more intense heat waves and increased flooding from heavy rain, said Kate Sinding Daly, senior vice president for law and policy at the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation.

“ This is just a stake through the heart of decades of hard work towards trying to address the most significant challenge that humanity faces today, which is climate change,” Sinding Daly said.

In a statement, Zeldin said the proposal would boost the auto industry and make cars more affordable by unwinding exhaust emissions regulations.

“With this proposal, the Trump EPA is proposing to end sixteen years of uncertainty for automakers and American consumers,” he said.

Once the federal endangerment finding is killed, Sinding Daly said, the onus to combat climate change will shift to state and city governments. But it's not clear if local leaders are able — or willing — to ramp up their efforts.

Massachusetts lawmakers in recent years have enacted legislation to address climate change. That includes initiatives to ease the transition to renewable energy and curb air pollution.

Now is the time to make sure those laws are being implemented, Sinding Daly said.

"If the federal government isn't going to tell industry and polluters that they have to stop spewing the stuff into the air, the states do it instead," she said.

But tackling the global problem of climate change will require federal support, said Jody Freeman, head of the environmental and energy law program at Harvard Law School and a former White House counsel for the Obama administration.

The endangerment finding stems from a landmark 2007 Supreme Court case, Massachusetts v. EPA, in which the justices ruled greenhouse gases qualify as air pollutants. Two years later, the EPA declared that these pollutants threaten public health, and the agency could regulate them under the Clean Air Act.

The move to repeal the finding is "really the most aggressive thing they could possibly do" to limit the federal government's ability to regulate emissions from the largest polluters, Freeman said.

It could also hamper efforts in states like Massachusetts.

“ We're a leader state, and when you don't have a partner in the federal government, it's just a lot harder," she said.

New England has made strides to increase energy supplies from renewable sources such as solar and hydropower, Freeman said. For example, rooftop solar has helped residents stay cool during this summer’s hottest days, relieving stress on the power grid.

Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Ed Markey condemned the Trump administration's proposal, calling it a lie to the public.

"This decision to argue that climate change isn’t dangerous isn’t driven by the law, and certainly isn’t driven by the science," he said in a statement. "This is nothing more than selling out Americans’ safety and future just for the convenience of polluters."

President Trump has argued that American car companies and consumers have suffered from overregulation of greenhouse gas emissions. Trump campaigned on a platform to end “electric vehicle mandates,” which refers to regulations on tailpipe emissions designed to encourage production of more EVs and fuel-efficient vehicles.

Transportation is the largest source of direct greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., according to EPA data.

Steven Higashide, director of clean transportation at the Cambridge-based Union of Concerned Scientists, said more fuel-efficient vehicles have improved the economy, the environment and the health of residents.

"Decades of vehicle fuel economy and tailpipe emission standards have saved car and truck drivers trillions of dollars at the pump, reduced our collective exposure to toxic air pollution, and avoided the extraction and burning of billions of barrels of oil," Higashide said in a statement.

Some critics of the administration's plan said it could set back the domestic auto industry, especially as electric vehicle sales increase in countries like China.

“It’s essentially a kill shot to the American car industry,” said Larry Chretien, head of the Boston-based Green Energy Consumers Alliance.

At the state level, Chretien said the adoption of EVs has slowed in recent months because of changes to tax credits meant to incentivize clean energy use. A massive federal spending law signed by Trump last month will eliminate tax credits for people who install home solar panels or buy EVs. There's still time to take advantage of the tax credits before the program sunsets at the end of this year, Chretien said.

There were 140,000 EVs on the road in the Massachusetts last year, according to the state's climate report card. The goal is to increase that figure to 900,000 by the end of the decade.

Chretien said there are reasons to be optimistic about some state efforts around clean energy. That includes a rebate program for EVs, the continuing expansion of public charging infrastructure, and electricity companies offering discounted rates for heat pump users this winter.

Still, the federal proposal to repeal the endangerment finding is a blow to environmental advocacy, many nonprofit leaders said, going against decades of scientific consensus about the harms of climate change.

The move will likely face challenges from environmental groups as the federal review process gets underway.

“ We could be supporting clean energy,” Freeman said. “And instead all of this is a giant step backwards.”