For more than three decades, the Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN) has remained committed to advancing environmental conditions that support children’s health. We are disappointed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to repeal the Endangerment Finding. Established in 2009, this determination concluded that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions endanger public health and welfare through impacts from climate change and therefore fall within the EPA’s regulatory authority under the Clean Air Act.

Its repeal reshapes the regulatory framework that has long guided federal efforts to address GHG emissions from major sources such as motor vehicles, power plants, and industrial facilities. By removing this foundational determination, the decision will affect the federal government’s ability to maintain GHG standards, with implications for long-term air quality, climate mitigation efforts, environmental, and public health conditions experienced by communities across the United States. In parallel, recent federal actions to weaken vehicle emissions standards contribute to increased emissions of both GHG and conventional air pollutants, including fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), which are closely linked to respiratory and cardiovascular health risks. 

Because GHG emissions drive the environmental conditions associated with climate change, including rising temperatures, increased wildfire activity, and more frequent extreme weather events, the regulatory choices made today will influence the conditions in which future generations live. These changes also affect environmental exposures through multiple pathways, including degraded air quality, contamination of water systems following climate-related disasters, and increased formation of co-pollutants such as ozone and PM2.5.

Children face heightened sensitivity to environmental hazards because their bodies and organ systems are still developing, and exposures during early life can influence health and developmental outcomes for decades. They also encounter greater exposure relative to their size, breathing more air per pound of body weight than adults and often spending more time outdoors during critical stages of growth. In addition, common childhood behaviors, such as frequent hand to mouth activity and close contact with soil and dust, can increase ingestion of environmental contaminants following air deposition or environmental disruptions. These factors mean that environmental conditions affecting air quality can have disproportionate effects on children’s health, development, and overall well-being.

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, CEHN’s Executive Director, says “The core mission of the EPA is to protect human health and the environment. Repealing the Endangerment Finding not only violates EPA’s mission and mandate, but also actively dismisses decades of peer-reviewed research and lived experiences in communities all over the U.S. Our communities will be at increased risk. Children of today and tomorrow will be at increased risk for harm to their health, safety and well-being. Our collective responsibility is to keep children safe and protected.”

Federal environmental decisions help determine the conditions in which today’s children and future generations will live. CEHN calls on policymakers to ensure that climate and air quality policies continue to reflect the best available scientific evidence and fully account for the health needs of children, whose development depends on stable and healthy environments. We remain committed to working alongside health professionals, researchers, community leaders, and partners across the country to support approaches that prioritize the health of our nation’s children.