“Climate change is real,” U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi said multiple times at a news conference Tuesday, Feb. 16, just days after the federal government rescinded the 2009 “endangerment finding” that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.
President Trump and the Environmental Protection Agency announced the deregulatory action Feb. 12, which eliminates federal greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks and could open the door to undoing regulations on stationary sources such as power plants and oil and gas facilities.
Trump called the move “the single largest deregulatory action in American history,” and said the 2009 finding “had no basis in fact” or law, praising fossil fuels for lifting people out of poverty.
“I don’t think we should be saying let’s celebrate clean, beautiful coal. That’s absurd,” Suozzi said on Tuesday.
The Obama-era finding has served as the legal foundation for nearly all climate regulations under the Clean Air Act, including limits on emissions from motor vehicles, power plants and other major sources of pollution.
The EPA said in a release that the deregulatory ruling would save American taxpayers $1.3 trillion
Suozzi said climate change has resulted in increasing insurance rates, higher food prices and an increase in extreme storms in the area. He referenced a 2023 Moody’s report that ranked Long Island fourth among major American population centers for exposure to the physical and economic risks of climate change, saying that climate change is “serious business.”
“We have to wake up. This is very real. This is affecting the quality of your life,” the Democratic congressman said.
Environmental groups condemned the federal government’s repeal, with multiple leaders standing beside Suozzi in Glen Cove Tuesday.
Pete Budden, a senior advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said his organization plans to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration, saying its actions violate the Clean Air Act. Suozzi said other environmental organizations will also likely appeal the government’s actions.
Adrienne Esposito, the executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said climate change is about the sustainability of the planet and the economy, saying that many changes have been made to protect the environment. She directly called out the Trump administration for its actions, saying the derogatory actions are in the interest of those who have previously financially supported campaign efforts.
“This is happening to pay back the fossil fuel industry, the billion dollars that they gave to elect this particular administration and we are the victims,” she said.
Michelle Lapinel McAllister, the programs director for the Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor, said the impacts of climate change are measurable and growing and that sustained federal action is necessary to reduce them.
Eric Swenson, the Hempstead Harbor Protection Committee’s director, said Long Island’s waterways are part of the region’s quality of life and that federal environmental protection rollbacks will negatively impact the area.
“We need to base our decisions on science, not politics,” he said.
Suozzi said people need to speak up and he hopes legislation can be formed surrounding environmental protection.
The congressman also said the recent federal actions make the 2026 midterm elections all the more important.
