Cortez Masto, Senate Democrats Investigate EPA’s Attempts to Roll Back Climate Protections

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) joined U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and 40 of their Democratic Senate colleagues in launching an investigation into Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin's decision to repeal the 2009 endangerment finding, the bedrock scientific determination underpinning EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

"We can combat climate change in a smart way that helps Nevadans, keeps our air and water clean, and actually creates jobs in this country. But this decision takes us backwards, not forwards," said Senator Cortez Masto. "While there is always opportunity to cut red tape in a way that supports our economy and promote business, abandoning regulations altogether is dangerous and reckless."

In 2009, following the Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, EPA determined that greenhouse gases harm public health and welfare. The repeal ignores more than half a century of evidence and is a formal denial by EPA that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare - a position that defies decades of scientific evidence, agency precedent, Supreme Court rulings, and the lived experiences of millions of Americans. Repealing it sets the stage for rolling back pollution standards for vehicles, power plants, airplanes, and more.

In their letter to Administrator Zeldin, the Senators pointed out that his public comments treated repeal as a foregone conclusion, writing, "you have described the endangerment finding as the 'holy grail of climate change religion,' and stated that under your leadership, EPA would be 'driving a dagger through the heart' of climate regulation. In media appearances and official communications, you framed repeal as 'the largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States,' emphasizing cost savings and ideological opposition rather than engagement with the statutory endangerment standard-or with the massive costs to human health and welfare that greenhouse gas-driven climate change imposes."

"When an agency signals that the outcome of a proceeding is preordained, public participation becomes performative rather than meaningful, undermining the legitimacy of the rulemaking process and violating basic principles of administrative law. The Administrative Procedure Act prohibits agencies from engaging in rulemaking when decisionmakers have an 'unalterably closed mind.' […] Presidential policy preferences do not give EPA carte blanche to bypass statutory mandates to engage in good faith with sound science and public input in favor of predetermined outcomes," concluded the Senators.

Read the full letter here.

Through her Innovation State Initiative, Senator Cortez Masto is a champion of Nevada's clean energy economy, including clean transportation technology. She has introduced bipartisan legislation to gather information about weaknesses in the electric energy grid, bolster the hydroelectric industry, and to establish a Critical Minerals Security Alliance. Cortez Masto recently unveiled her sweeping legislation to reinstate key clean energy tax credits to lower costs for families. Within the bipartisan infrastructure law, the Senator passed multiple bills aimed at expanding domestic battery, critical mineral, and clean and smart transportation technologies.

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