FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 22, 2025

Contact: Chyna Fields, [email protected]

WASHINGTON - Today, the NAACP has filed a public comment letter with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging the agency to preserve greenhouse gas emissions regulations that safeguard public health and protect vulnerable communities. The filing comes in response to the EPA's proposed rule to reconsider the 2009 Endangerment Finding and vehicle emissions standards - a move that would dismantle critical protections and place Black, low-income, rural, and other marginalized communities at even greater risk.

"The EPA has a legal and moral duty to protect our people from dangerous pollution and climate harm," said Abre' Conner, NAACP Director of Environmental and Climate Justice. "Rolling back these protections abandons that duty and ignores the lived reality of communities already burdened by dirty air, flooding, extreme heat, and economic instability. Our health, our children's futures, and our responsibility to protect the planet are not negotiable."

The NAACP's opposition letter highlights how weakening or rescinding greenhouse gas regulations would:

• Undermine settled science and long-standing legal precedent.
• Exacerbate disproportionate health and environmental burdens in Black communities.
• Increase the cumulative impacts of pollution, climate change, and underinvestment in infrastructure.

For decades, the NAACP has stood alongside communities to demand that environmental justice be treated as a civil rights issue. We urge the EPA to maintain and strengthen greenhouse gas emissions standards, and to reject any proposal that would weaken the nation's ability to combat climate change and protect our most vulnerable populations.

For more information on how the NAACP is working to address the environmental injustices that systematically impact Black communities, visit our website.

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About NAACP

The NAACP advocates, agitates, and litigates for the civil rights due to Black America. Our legacy is built on the foundation of grassroots activism by the biggest civil rights pioneers of the 20th century and is sustained by 21st century activists. From classrooms and courtrooms to city halls and Congress, our network of members across the country works to secure the social and political power that will end race-based discrimination. That work is rooted in racial equity, civic engagement, and supportive policies and institutions for all marginalized people. We are committed to a world without racism where Black people enjoy equitable opportunities in thriving communities.

NOTE: The Legal Defense Fund - also referred to as the NAACP-LDF - was founded in 1940 as a part of the NAACP, but now operates as a completely separate entity.