I hate having to waste my Gaian Reflections commenting on the slow motion train wreck that is America’s government. But the Environmental “protection” Agency (EpA) is at it again. Last week, EpA proposed a new rule that terminates the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP). That means the U.S. wouldn’t even track how many CO2 emissions are being emitted at over 8,000 industrial sites (only oil and gas refining would track emissions due to Clean Air Act rules). To add to the insult, the Trump Administration is working to defund the U.S.’s four GHG monitoring stations around the world (Hawaii, Alaska, America Samoa and the South Pole) and two climate tracking satellites, even though they’re already in orbit and operating. The Administration, of course, argues these are money saving measures, but as a former NASA scientist who led the effort to launch the satellites told the New York Times, shutting down these $800 million satellites would be like buying a car “and then running it into a tree after a few years,” just to save on gas.
I guess the Administration thinks that if we can’t measure these things, then they can’t be a problem, or at least the U.S. can’t be held accountable for this problem (historically, the U.S. has produced 20% of all GHG emissions). Of course, the rest of the world is playing by a different set of rules—with all but Iran, Libya, Yemen, and now the U.S. having opted-in to the Paris Agreement. So, one way or another, the U.S. is going to be made accountable (even if it is other countries’ satellites that track America’s emissions).
Meanwhile, China is driving full speed ahead on producing the next generation of cleaner technologies, electrifying nine times faster than the rest of the world and receiving the lion’s share of patents in clean energy technologies (75% in 2022), all while the U.S. halts development of renewables and even ceases construction of wind turbines that are nearly complete. So it’s sheer nonsense what the U.S. is doing. But that doesn’t make it any less necessary that you send in your comment and join the public hearing (just like when EpA proposed ending the endangerment finding).
And here’s the silver lining: pressure works. The Department of Energy already disbanded the Climate Working Group (CWG) after being sued by the Environmental Defense Fund and the Union of Concerned Scientists. More than 85 scientists submitted a 400+ page report a few weeks back, finding the CWG’s report “biased, full of errors, and not fit to inform policymaking.” Then last week, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine published a 135-page report concluding that “EPA’s 2009 finding that the human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases threaten human health and welfare was accurate, has stood the test of time, and is now reinforced by even stronger evidence.” And as one law professor noted to the New York Times, failing to respond to any of these scientific reports “creates a legal vulnerability. Courts are going to be very leery if the E.P.A. tries to ignore or reject the findings of the National Academies of Sciences.”
The overwhelming pressure on EpA will have an impact—though the pressure certainly has to be taken up a notch or three. But if you’re not ready to head down to DC and camp out in front of EpA headquarters, I encourage you to at least register for the upcoming public hearing (you have until September 29th) and communicate that it is absolutely essential for the EpA to continue monitoring GHG emissions. And then submit a comment as well (open until November 3rd).
Failing to stop the assault on the tools to even track our GHG emissions will mean at best the U.S. becoming a pariah state, at worst it can derail the global efforts to curb climate change and progress to transition beyond fossil fuels. Not an optimal outcome in either case, and certainly worth fighting to prevent—one public hearing at a time.
Bart Everson
I’m trying to get someone else from my local interfaith climate action group to make comments this time.
Erik Assadourian
Wow, this comment from California’s Secretary for Environmental Protection is powerful:
“The Trump Administration wants you to believe that this is a battle about gas-powered cars versus electric ones. That’s a lie. California is fighting for lives. Decades upon decades of science show that climate-warming gases produced by cars, trucks, power plants and gas facilities are killing people. The proof is clear—more smog, more asthma, and more emergency room visits. Instead of standing up for everyday people and businesses, Trump’s EPA is cannibalizing itself to dodge its responsibility to protect health, safety and the economy. There’s nothing patriotic about abandoning Americans.”
From a statement made 9/22/25: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/news/carb-submits-scathing-critique-u-s-epas-illegal-effort-overturn-endangerment-finding
Erik Assadourian
I just shared this as testimony and then as a public comment. Share yours as well!
Thank you. My name is Erik Assadourian. I’m a citizen of the United States, a sustainability researcher, and the director of the Gaian Way, a nonprofit ecospiritual organization based in Connecticut.
If today’s America were a novel, it’d be 1984. On Monday, the Department of Energy “added “climate change,” “green” “decarbonization,” “emissions” and “sustainability” to its growing “list of words to avoid” at its Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy,” according to an internal email leaked to Politico.
The EpA and the broader Trump Administration want to declare that climate change doesn’t hurt human health or the planet and has commissioned a misleading report saying such, even when the country’s own National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine says climate change is incontrovertibly hurting people and the planet, and it’s only getting worse.
The administration is going so far as proposing to defund climate satellites even though they’re already up in orbit and circulating. That’s like ‘buying a car and running it into a tree after a few years just to save on gas,’ as a former NASA scientist noted to the New York Times.
Now, EpA wants to terminate the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, meaning the U.S. would stop tracking CO2 emissions at over 8,000 industrial sites.
I could point out that most governments, comprising 77% of global GDP, are playing by a different set of rules—where they accept the reality of climate change, are monitoring GHG emissions, and are working proactively to achieve net zero emissions. Why? Because their futures depend on it.
Our future, too, depends on slowing, stopping, and reversing climate change. We will also face worsening droughts, wildfires, floods, and storms in our country. Moreover, if we continue to call climate change a hoax and fail to take action, we risk making ourselves into a pariah state. And thus we can expect eventually to lose our position as dominant economy and hegemon, and perhaps face hostility, climate tariffs, and even sanctions.
But again, this is attempting to appeal to rational thinking administrators. I must assume EpA is not filled with dunces but that you know all this. So, sadly, that means this is all political. The Administration seems hell bent on destroying our ability to stop civilization’s slide into an eco-catastrophic future. Perhaps they recognize they’ll capitalize off the chaos, as it will trigger additional climate migration from less resilient countries in South America, which they can use to polarize the country further and lock in even more political gains for themselves.
I would appeal to your inherent connection with the living planet to do the right thing. Remember those times camping with your family, or spending time in a secret spot in the woods as a child. But I fear that part of you is deadened as well. For if this were alive, you could never in your right mind play your role in proposing the dismantling of the endangerment finding or the greenhouse gas reporting program.
Thus it depends on the American people to fight—including EpA staff that are at the Agency not as political appointees but as dedicated public servants—to ensure these rules stay in place. So I offer this testimony as a reminder to the American public—those who care about the living Earth, about their children and future generations, their aging parents who will struggle to survive the chaos of unraveling economic, political, social, and ecological systems—to find bolder ways to resist these myopic and politically motivated rule changes. Thank you.