Elfreth Joins Maryland Delegation in Urging EPA Not to Abandon Efforts to Combat Climate Change, Pointing to Threats Facing Maryland Communities

WASHINGTON, DC- Today, Congresswoman Sarah Elfreth (MD-03), Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Representatives April McClain Delaney (MD-06), Steny Hoyer (MD-05), Kweisi Mfume (MD-07), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Glenn Ivey (MD-04), and Johnny Olszewski (MD-02)urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to maintain its greenhouse gas emissions "endangerment finding," a 2009 landmark determination that climate pollution endangers public health and welfare. This determination - which has stood for over 15 years - provides the legal basis for regulating greenhouse gas emissions. In their letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, the lawmakers called on the agency to preserve the endangerment finding in order to protect Marylanders from the increasing risks, costs, and chaos caused by climate change, pointing to the many related threats currently facing Maryland communities.

"We are deeply concerned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposal to eliminate the 2009 Endangerment Finding and what that will mean for Maryland and our constituents' health and safety. The Endangerment Finding requires the EPA to protect people from the pollution that causes climate change. Denying the danger cannot change the facts: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels are heating our planet and endangering us all," the lawmakers began.

"The Endangerment Finding is based on settled science: decades of peer-reviewed scientific research have proven that rising global temperatures fuel stronger hurricanes, sea level rise, increased flooding, record-breaking heat waves, and other forms of extreme weather. The threats have never been more dire to communities across the country, including our constituents in Maryland," they wrote.

The lawmakers went on to highlight threats to Maryland communities, pointing out, "Coastal communities in the Chesapeake Bay region are especially vulnerable to rising sea levels; in this region, seas have already risen one foot over the past century, twice as fast as the worldwide average, and are projected to rise nearly 3 more feet by 2100. More than 100 Maryland communities are at risk of 'nuisance flooding' from sea level rise. Almost a third of those communities are socioeconomically disadvantaged and do not have the resources to adapt to or mitigate the local impacts. Annapolis and Baltimore are experiencing some of the most frequent nuisance flooding events in the country, which have increased more than 920 percent since 1960. Further, Maryland farmers are expected to lose between $39 million and $107 million annually in crop yields due to saltwater intrusion."

"Dangerous flooding also threatens Maryland communities further inland as heavy precipitation and severe storms have become more common. As of August 1^st, Maryland has already recorded the most flash flood warnings in 2025 since 2020. Two years after Ellicott City was hit by a 1-in-1000 year catastrophic flash flood in 2016, which took the lives of two Marylanders, damaged over 100 businesses and 107 homes costing over $22 million in repairs, and reduced economic activity by $67.2 million, another flash flood once again destroyed the city's Main Street and led to the death of one person. Recent flooding in the Mid-Atlantic led to the death of a child swept away by flood waters and over 200 children and students being evacuated from an elementary school in motorized boats in Western Maryland. The flood damaged drinking water systems and roads, highlighting the dangers facing all Marylanders as extreme weather wreaks havoc on the state's infrastructure and local economies," they continued.

"We urge you to put the welfare of people over that of polluters and maintain the Endangerment Finding. Marylanders and communities across the country should not be left to foot the bill for the climate chaos caused by polluters," they concluded.

A copy of the letter is available here.

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