EPA’s repeal of the Endangerment Finding contradicts their mission and threatens health February 12, 2026

Physicians for Social Responsibility will sue the Trump administration to protect health

Contact: Miah Hornyak, mhornyak@psr.org

EPA has made a decision to neglect the health and safety of the American people through today’s rollback of the endangerment finding for greenhouse gases. A healthy population, which this administration claims to want, is impossible to achieve without the endangerment finding. Carbon emissions and climate change lead to excess illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths all of which could be avoided through proper regulation of fossil fuels.

Sound policy decisions are not the result of anti-science rhetoric, climate denial, and ignorance. Donald Trump and Lee Zeldin are two individuals of many in this administration that insist on forcing the United States into a post-fact world through their sidelining of scientists and decades of scientific evidence. Americans know that climate change is real and humans are causing it by burning fossil fuels; federal policy should reflect that. We see the consequences of not facing climate change every day as each year is hotter than the next and natural disasters plague the country from coast to coast.

The endangerment finding is an integral tool in the fight against climate change. PSR will not sit idly by as this administration puts us all at risk through their attempt to dismantle this bedrock policy. We’ll be filing a lawsuit in the coming days and will see the EPA in court.

“The EPA’s rollback of the endangerment finding is a devastating decision that goes against the science and testimony of countless scientists, health care professionals, and public health practitioners. It will result in direct harm to the health of Americans throughout the country, particularly children, older adults, those with chronic illnesses, and other vulnerable populations, rural to urban, red and blue, of all races and incomes. The increased exposure to harmful pollutants and other greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel production and consumption will make America sicker, not healthier, less prosperous, not more, for generations to come.”

Ankush K. Bansal, MD, DCM, FACP, FACPM, SFHM, PSR Board President

“By repealing the endangerment finding, the Trump administration’s EPA is abandoning its responsibility to protect Americans from the greenhouse gas pollution driving climate change. PSR’s health professional members are already confronting the devastating impacts of climate change — from worsening heat and air pollution, extreme weather and the spread of infectious diseases — in our patients and communities. Our duty as health professionals is to prevent harm, and we will continue to challenge this decision and defend against further attacks on America’s public health.”

Brian Campbell, PhD, PSR Executive Director