Climate Protection Rollbacks Threaten People and the Chesapeake Bay

The Trump Administration today announced that it has completed its repeal of the landmark finding that greenhouse gases and climate change pose a threat to the public.

The Obama Administration implemented the endangerment finding in 2009, which has supported regulations that protect the air we breathe, address pollution that dirties waterways, and fight climate change.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) opposed the Trump Administration’s repeal of the endangerment finding, submitting comments in September urging the Administration to withdraw its action.

Extreme heat exacerbated by climate change harms people, plants, and animals across our region. Unpredictable temperatures lead to harsher conditions for the region’s farmers. Sea level rise and flooding from increasingly intense storms threatens homes and businesses in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.

Climate change also contributes to pollution in the Bay. Heavy storms increase erosion, sewer overflows, flooding, and polluted runoff. This dumps more nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment into rivers and the Bay, contributing to dead zones and algal blooms. Warmer water holds less oxygen, increasing stress to aquatic life.

CBF Senior Vice President for Programs Alison Hooper Prost issued the following statement.

“Climate change not only threatens our health, it also threatens the Chesapeake Bay. We’re already feeling the effects around our region—flooded streets in Annapolis and Norfolk, disappearing wetlands and forests as seas rise, and striped bass and other species under stress from warmer temperatures that lead to lower oxygen. Increasingly intense storms send more pollution to the Bay.

“By abandoning climate change protections, the Trump Administration is washing its hands of our basic rights to clean air and clean water. We urge states across the region to continue to step up and address threats from climate change.”