Massachusetts Attorney General Opposes EPA's Proposal to Reverse Landmark Climate Change Finding

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell testified before the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in opposition to the agency's proposed rescission of its 2009 Endangerment Finding, which links greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles to air pollution and climate change. The Trump Administration's proposal, issued in August 2025, would deny EPA's authority to regulate harmful air pollution and eliminate existing vehicle emission standards. AG Campbell argued that the proposal is based on flawed and unscientific sources, ignores the impacts of climate change on daily life, and violates the EPA's legal obligations to protect public health and welfare.

Key Takeaways:

• The proposed rescission of the 2009 Endangerment Finding would deny the EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles, which contribute to air pollution and climate change.
• The EPA's proposal relies on an unfinished, flawed Department of Energy report to claim that the science behind climate change is "uncertain," contradicting decades of peer-reviewed research and EPA findings.
• AG Campbell criticized the EPA's failure to account for the enormous economic, health, and environmental costs of climate change, which burden the daily lives of all Americans.
• The U.S. transportation sector is the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country, responsible for more than 3% of all global greenhouse gas emissions.
• Motor vehicle emissions contribute to the formation of smog, fine particle pollution, and toxic air pollution, linked to premature death, respiratory illness, cardiovascular problems, and cancer.
• AG Campbell is one of many attorneys general and public officials speaking out against the EPA's flawed proposal.

Statistics:

• The U.S. transportation sector is responsible for more than 3% of all global greenhouse gas emissions (Source: EPA).
• Greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles contribute to air pollution that harms public health and welfare in numerous ways (Source: EPA).
• 3% of American communities have experienced the impacts of climate change firsthand, including worsening extreme heat, air quality, and devastating floods and wildfires (Source: AG Campbell's testimony).
• The comment period on EPA's proposal closes on September 22, 2025 (Source: EPA).

Sources:

• Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell's testimony before the EPA.
• EPA's 2009 Endangerment Finding.
• EPA's proposed rescission of the 2009 Endangerment Finding.