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CLIMATE WATCH - Climate change is not a religion, as Lee Zeldin, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency cynically states, it is a tragic fact of life.
Earlier this year the United Nations warned that the destructive forces of climate change are becoming increasingly evident, as backed up by science. The UN also reported that during 2024 an alarming escalation in climate-related disasters occurred with more than 150 significant events recorded worldwide.
In fact, the wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles were driven by monthslong climate change fueled patterns, according to scientists of the World Weather Attribution, a collaboration of experts studying the influence of climate change on extreme weather events. They reported that human-caused global warming made the conditions that drove the Los Angeles area wildfires about 35 percent more likely.
Yet, the Trump administration plans to undo the so-called endangerment finding which, in 2009, disclosed how human emissions of carbon monoxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases threaten human health and welfare. It is this finding that resulted in setting strict limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars, power plants and other industrial sources of pollution.
Repealing the endangerment finding will derail virtually all limits of climate pollution. By rescinding the 2009 formal determination, the largest deregulation action in the history of the United States could occur, according to Zeldin. Limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks on the nation’s roads would be erased.
And it gets worse. Climate scientists say that there is significantly greater risk from increasing destructive storms, droughts, wildfires and heat waves, as well as species extinction, if global temperatures rise by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, above preindustrial levels, according to the New York Times, July 29, 2025.
We have recognized the importance of controlling emissions in Los Angeles since 1947, enacting the most comprehensive program to control pollution. After dealing with stationary sources, we turned our attention to the villainous motor vehicle, the number one source of pollution here. Constant tightening of regulations led to breakthroughs and the birth of electric vehicles, and cleaner gasoline and diesel cars, trucks, and buses. Now, the president’s very vocal call to support the oil and gas industry by boosting fossil fuel production with his unsettling slogan, “Drill, Baby, Drill,” has led to the pending reversal of climate change policies. The dark clouds of choking air contaminants will make a comeback, as will the dreadful fear of climate-caused disasters.
The “Endangerment Finding" of 2009 makes climate change regulations valid. This forms the core of the federal government's authority to impose limits on global warming emissions. The US is a major contributor to global climate change and ranks second only to China. President Donald Trump has long felt that these regulations stifle US economic growth and ordered the EPA to submit recommendations “on the legality and continuing application” of the endangerment findings. The Supreme Court has ruled that greenhouse gases are "air pollutants" - meaning that the EPA has the authority and responsibility to regulate them under the US Clean Air Act.
The hope is that it may be difficult for the EPA to develop a contradictory finding to kill the 2009 declaration that may be legitimate enough to stand up in court.
The planet is growing hotter. Wider devastation may be a matter of time, but the administration has turned a blind eye and preparing for unfortunate consequences is weakened.
Can California set an even more aggressive policy to achieve its climate goals if the EPA repealed the landmark finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health? It would be difficult, I believe since the effects of greenhouse gas emissions are not contained by state lines. However, the opportunity may be present for California to enact stronger regulations at the state level.
Los Angeles’ continuous growth to mega city prominence requires the adoption of renewable energy projects. Green power projects were always a high priority, and a 20 percent goal set by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in 2005 was met in five years.
As an example, one renewable project was the Pine Tree wind farm in the Tehachapi Mountains, which consists of ninety turbines spread over 8,000 acres, and provides up to 135 megawatts of green wind power for Los Angeles. It displaced 215,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year and cut eight tons of nitrous oxide and eleven tons of carbon monoxide.
Mayor Eric Garcetti also committed to one hundred percent clean power by 2035, and he staunchly moved to fully electrifying the Meto bus fleet by 2030.
In my book, “The Making of Modern Los Angeles,” I pointed it out that mass adoption of electric vehicles would take place in our city, in concurrence with rapid charging infrastructure roll-out and fleet conversions. And I have supported with enthusiasm our area’s integrating transportation technologies and pioneering innovative solutions.
We are on the road to dealing with global warming in our own serious and steadfast way. The EPA’s meddling for the sake of another “deal” with oil and gas should be opposed and sanity restored to create and maintain a better livable tomorrow.
(Nick Patsaouras is an electrical engineer, former member of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and Metro board and a regular contributor to CityWatchLA.com.)
