The Trump administration’s decision to revoke a major climate rule could have sweeping environmental and economic impacts on Greater Cincinnati.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Feb. 12 announced it is repealing the 2009 Endangerment Finding, a scientific determination that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. The emissions trap heat in the atmosphere and warm the planet.
The Endangerment Finding was the basis for U.S. action to combat climate change. The EPA used it to set regulations under the Clean Air Act limiting emissions from motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the repeal the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history and said it would save taxpayers over $1.3 trillion.
Greater Cincinnati environmental organizations say the rollback will intensify the impacts of climate change, leaving people and local governments to bear the burden.
Marilyn Wall is with the Sierra Club Miami Group.
“In Southwest Ohio, the trend has been for higher temperatures, more frequent storms that are more severe, intense rainfall, high winds — all those are very damaging to people and also the economy,” Wall said.
A coalition of health and environmental groups sued the EPA Wednesday, challenging the agency’s repeal of the Endangerment Finding.
Public health
Reduced federal regulation of emissions from cars and power plants could worsen air quality and increase health risks. Scientists say exposure to air pollutants, including greenhouse gases, can lead to respiratory infections, heart disease and cancer.
Van Sullivan is interim executive director at Green Umbrella, a Greater Cincinnati environmental group.
“As a region with relatively already poor air quality, reduced regulation of emissions will lead to more asthma crises,” Sullivan said. “We've seen this in creating higher emergency service demands.”
The American Lung Association's 2025 “State of the Air” report lists the Cincinnati metro area as the 14th worst in the nation for year-round particle pollution.
The repeal of the Endangerment Finding is also expected to intensify health issues associated with the impacts of climate change, like extreme heat.
Cincinnati is getting hotter. Historically, the city has experienced about 30 days a year with a heat index over 90°F. In the next few decades, that number could be as high as 79 days, according to research from the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Higher temperatures can increase the risk for fatal illnesses like heat stroke. They also can expand the breeding season and geographic range of ticks and mosquitoes, accelerating the spread of vector-borne diseases like Lyme disease and West Nile Virus.
In the EPA’s announcement ending the Endangerment Finding, the agency said that maintaining greenhouse gas emission standards “is not necessary” for it to fulfill its core mission of protecting human health and the environment.
Economic impacts
Weather-related disasters cost the U.S. at least $150 billion a year, and that figure is expected to grow due to climate change, according to the most recent National Climate Assessment.
As the planet heats up, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense, resulting in devastating losses.
Wall with the Sierra Club says that’s already impacting Greater Cincinnati. She points to a storm in 2016 that dumped 4.5 inches of rain on Hamilton County in a very short time.
The storm sewer system wasn't built to handle that kind of rainfall, and water and sewage backed up into some homes. The Metropolitan Sewer District paid millions of dollars to address damages and cleanup.
“These costs are only going to keep rising as storms worsen,” Wall said. “And the cost to try to expand the sewer system and stormwater drainage infrastructure to prevent backups and flooding would be enormous.”
Sullivan with Green Umbrella says homeowner’s insurance also will get more expensive as climate impacts become more frequent and severe.
“This might sound surprising, but insurance premiums often rise with climate impacts because these companies use climate data, greenhouse gas data, to identify what their premium should be in communities,” Sullivan said.
Local government action
Several local governments in Greater Cincinnati are already working to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Cincinnati officials have set a goal of reducing carbon emissions 50% by 2030 in the 2023 Green Cincinnati Plan. Fairfield is working on cutting its emissions with its Fairfield Sustains plan, and Oxford through its Climate Action Plan.
Sullivan says repeal of Endangerment Finding makes the actions of local governments more important — and challenging.
“They have a much more significant burden... they'll have to fill the gap that will no longer be regulated by the federal government,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan says the repeal is discouraging, but says the region is prepared to respond to it.
“We have so many resources, not only at Green Umbrella, but across our community — the network of our members and other organizations and local governments who are already taking huge steps on this,” Sullivan said. “We have the means to keep our communities healthy in the face of this repeal.”
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