Dingell Leads Michigan Delegation House Democrats in Urging EPA to Maintain Landmark Endangerment Finding

Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-06) led her Democratic Michigan House Delegation colleagues in sending a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin urging the agency to uphold the 2009 Endangerment Finding. Eliminating the finding, which the Trump Administration has proposed, would end the EPA's legal basis to enforce limits of harmful levels of greenhouse gas emissions, worsening climate change and endangering Americans' health, safety, and economic future.

The letter is signed by every House Democrat in the Michigan Delegation: Representatives Rashida Tlaib, Haley Stevens, Hillary Scholten, Shri Thanedar, and Kristen McDonald Rivet.

"In Michigan, unpredictability between seasons is becoming the new normal. In 2024 alone, Michiganders endured eight extreme weather events that each caused more than $1 billion in damages, totaling $23.6 billion and contributing to the tragic loss of nearly 100 lives across the Midwest," the lawmakers write. "Research from the University of Michigan shows that heat waves and cold spells are becoming more common on the Great Lakes, threatening our $7 billion fishing industry and the surrounding communities that depend on it. Precipitation in the Great Lakes region has risen 14 percent since 1951, leading to record-breaking rainfall and flooding, including across Southeast Michigan. These storms and temperature swings are also devastating Michigan's agricultural industry, and our cherry farmers reported losses of up to 80 percent of their crops during the 2024 harvest."

"By dismantling the Endangerment Finding, the very foundation of climate protection is being stripped away, which undermines vehicle standards, power plant rules, oil and gas safeguards, and other environmental regulations," the lawmakers continue. "This rollback gives polluters a free pass to pollute at the expense of families across our state, region, and country. It means continued climate chaos, worsening health harms, and higher costs for our constituents, particularly in frontline communities already overburdened by pollution."

"EPA's own findings - in 2009, 2015, 2023, and in 2024 - have reaffirmed the overwhelming scientific evidence that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare," the lawmakers conclude. "Rolling back the Endangerment Finding erases climate science from policymaking and abandons EPA's responsibility under the Clean Air Act. We urge you to maintain the Endangerment Finding and uphold EPA's duty to protect the health, safety, and economic well-being of Michigan and communities across the country."

View the full text of the letter here.