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A repeal of a landmark finding by the Environmental Protection Agency will jeopardize air and water quality, along with intensifying the impacts of climate change.

“EPA is turning its back, yet again, on established science and fact,” said Sound Rivers Executive Director Heather Deck. “This move will cause untold harm to our rivers and communities. We know we need to be doing more to combat climate change, not less.”

The scientific determination that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare — the 2009 Endangerment Finding — was rescinded by the EPA last week, opening the door to gutting federal regulations for the emission of methane, carbon dioxide and four other heat-trapping gases.

“The complete disregard and revocation of scientific findings will cause widespread damage: further lack of pollution regulation puts communities’ health at even greater risk, likely to worsen risks in places that are already disproportionately impacted,” said Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman.

North Carolina residents are no strangers to the damage caused by Earth’s rising temperatures.

“We know that our waterways are already seeing impacts from climate change — increased flooding that introduced more pollutants from runoff, more frequent and severe droughts and water scarcity, increased temperatures that lead to aquatic stress and more harmful algal blooms, sea level rise and saltwater intrusion destroying inland habitats. This decision will only increase the severity and timeline of seeing these climate impacts on our rivers,” Katey said.

Also at risk is North Carolina’s billion-dollar fishing industry.

“Our communities, including the many people working in the commercial and recreational fishing industries, rely on clean water,” Heather said. “This is the part of climate change that makes the extremes worse. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be flooding all the time, but when it does flood, it’s going to be worse. And that will likely mean our watersheds won’t have time to recover from the last storm before the next one hits.”

Data from recent hurricanes illustrates how climate change is affecting the severity of storms. According to the World Weather Attribution, an international agency studying the effects of climate change on weather events, rainfall associated with Hurricane Helene was 10% heavier due to climate change, and rainfall totals over the 2-day (the predecessor rain events) and 3-day period (predecessor events plus rain from Helene itself) were made about 40% and 70% more likely by climate change, respectively. Hurricane Helene unleashed devastating flooding across western North Carolina in September 2024.

The most memorable recent storm for the eastern part of the state, Hurricane Florence in September 2018, dumped an estimated 50% more rain due to climate change, according to researchers at Stony Brook University, and 11,000 more homes flooded due to sea level rise—this, according to The First Street Foundation, a group that studies sea level rise.

“In North Carolina, we know all too well the effects of climate change. The science is crystal clear, and this EPA decision makes us less safe,” North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein wrote on social media in response to the repeal.

“This is just not good for any of us,” Heather said. “More flooding, more extreme droughts, higher insurance quotes. They’re pretty much ignoring all established science and fact with a move that seems to be to protect corporate polluters.”

The repeal is already being challenged: on Wednesday, EarthJustice filed suit against the EPA, claiming the action illegal, as the endangerment finding was the outcome of a U.S. Supreme Court decision requiring the EPA to “issue a scientific determination as to whether greenhouse gases were a threat to public health under the 1970 Clean Air Act and to regulate them if they were. As a result, two years later, in 2009, the EPA issued the endangerment finding, allowing the government to limit greenhouse gas emissions, which cause climate change.” (New York Times)

The Natural Resource Defense Council, Sierra Club and the American Public Health Association are among the 17 plaintiffs involved in the EarthJustice lawsuit. Another lawsuit against the EPA’s repeal was also filed on Wednesday — this one by Our Children’s Trust and Public Justice on behalf of 18 youth plaintiffs.

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