MassIPL Statement on EPA's Rescission of the Endangerment Finding
Dear Friends,
Yesterday, the EPA issued a final rule rescinding the 2009 Endangerment Finding. The decision attempts to end federal authority to regulate the emissions fueling the climate crisis, in what its own proponents are calling "the single largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States."
As people of faith and conscience, we are deeply grieved by the actions of our own government. We denounce this attack as irresponsible, dangerous, and unjust. It denies science, undermines public health, and knowingly sacrifices vulnerable communities to protect polluters' profits. Despite false claims of economic or regulatory benefit, the real cost of this decision will be borne by our children, elders, frontline communities, and future generations.
Sacred Obligation
Our diverse faith traditions teach us that we have a sacred obligation to love our neighbors and care for the earth. We do not treat environmental action as an optional expression of personal opinion; rather, our faith traditions require it. Stewardship of Creation is not simply a nice thing to do. It is a fundamental demand of our deepest-held religious and moral convictions.
To claim that greenhouse gases do not endanger human life is to deny the floods, heatwaves, swings in extreme weather, and respiratory illnesses already ravaging our region. It is to deny the lived experience of families breathing polluted air, local communities bearing the disproportionate burden of environmental injustice, and fragile ecosystems pushed to the edge of irreversible harm.
Many of our faith traditions teach that breath is sacred. In Hebrew, ruach means spirit, wind, breath. What is at stake here is not an abstract policy debate—it is life itself. We will continue to organize, advocate, and build power until every community can breathe freely and live with dignity.
According to an analysis by the Environmental Defense Fund, if this rollback is allowed to stand, it will cumulatively add as many as 18 billion tons of climate-altering pollution into the atmosphere—the equivalent of three times annual U.S. emissions today. It will increase harmful air pollution, leading to as many as 77,000 early deaths and 52 million more asthma attacks, and increase net costs for Americans by up to $4.7 trillion due to rising expenses from climate and air pollution, while forcing Americans to spend up to an additional $1.7 trillion on fuel.¹
What can you do?
The fight is not over, nor is our work done. The courts will have more to say and together, we will keep up the pressure.
One of the most devastating aspects of this decision is that, given its technical nature, many people will not learn about it, or understand just how damaging this is. Speaking up clearly, publicly, and persistently with our faith voices matters more than ever. Please share this statement with your networks to help build a broad understanding of the threat to all of us. Our fight continues, and we need as many people as possible to know that it is happening.
We invite you to join us as we pray, act, and mobilize together for a more just and livable future. There is great hope in the interconnectedness of human relationships—friends and partners and networks across the Commonwealth and around the globe—who join us in the never-defeated works of love. There is great wisdom in our faith traditions, religious practices, and in nature itself. We will keep our eyes forward and our hands open.
In Solidarity,
Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light
| 
