In February, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the repeal of the endangerment finding, a key rule that has supported federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions since 2009.

Established during the Obama administration, the endangerment finding determined that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. That determination gave the EPA authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate emissions from vehicles, power plants, and other major sources of pollution. Without it, the agency loses the legal foundation it has used for more than 15 years to limit pollution and combat climate change. Environmental groups and state attorneys general have already challenged the move in court. The outcome could take years to resolve, but in the meantime it raises questions about what it means for states like Washington.

To better understand the implications, Seattle magazine spoke with Meredith Connolly, director of policy and strategy at Climate Solutions, a Northwest nonprofit focused on climate policy.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What does repealing the endangerment finding change for people living in Washington?

It’s definitely one of those more foundational moves to undercut climate progress at the national level, because even a future president and EPA, if they succeed [in repealing the finding], would have to put it back in place to have authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate vehicle emissions, power plants, major industrial sources, oil and gas drilling.

How final is the repeal?

It’ll be fought in court. Environmental groups have already sued. We already saw Attorney General Brown, in coalition with 23 other state attorneys general, submit comments urging the administration to abandon the action, saying it violated the law. The tricky thing is that while that’s being sorted out, some of the programs and authorities that flow from it are paused and in a kind of in-between status.

One big example is vehicle greenhouse gas emission standards. The federal government currently preempts states from setting their own standards. Under normal circumstances that could make sense—you wouldn’t want cars to have different requirements in every state. But that arrangement assumes the federal government is regulating those emissions. Now the question becomes: if the government is not regulating that area, can it still prevent states from acting?

One place where this is already creating problems is in Washington. Along with many other states, we follow California’s waiver under the Clean Air Act through the advanced clean car rule and clean truck rule, which accelerate the transition to electric vehicles and reduce vehicle pollution. Right now that authority is stalled while the courts determine whether states can still follow those standards.

So we will have to rely on other state tools to accelerate the transition and reduce transportation pollution. There are still tools, but it’s not the same. It’s like getting one arm tied behind your back while you still have to address the problem and fight climate change.

What impacts could residents feel first?

We are seeing a roller coaster in fossil fuel prices, whether it’s oil prices tied to global events like Iran or natural gas prices swinging sharply, and we now have fewer tools to transition to electric vehicles and clean up tailpipe pollution.

We could see higher fuel costs and higher air pollution, especially for people living along major transportation corridors. It also puts more pressure on programs like the Climate Commitment Act that help fund the transition, because we are not going to see new federal money for EV charging across the state or rebates for cleaner vehicles. That means our current vehicles could get dirtier and there will be less funding to support the shift to cleaner transportation. More of that work will have to come from state programs and the tools we still have available.

Are there protections Washington still has in place that people may not realize exist?

Washington has been a real leader nationally in creating landmark climate programs that support a transition to more affordable clean energy. If you look at the major sources of climate pollution in the state, they come from transportation, the electric sector, buildings, and some industrial sources. These laws aim to curb that pollution while investing in cleaner alternatives.

The Climate Commitment Act is economy-wide and creates an overall cap on climate pollution. It holds the state’s biggest polluters accountable while funding programs that make clean energy and electric vehicles more affordable and accessible for residents.

The Clean Energy Transformation Act works with utilities to move toward cleaner power, first phasing out coal and then replacing gas with wind, solar, storage, and other emerging energy sources.

The state’s Clean Fuel Standard is another key piece. One bright spot when the federal government changed hands and Trump was sworn in is that the legislature moved quickly to ramp up the program and deepen the state’s commitment to cleaner fuels. The program helps diversify transportation fuels, meaning the fuel used in vehicles is gradually getting cleaner. It also supports investments in electric school buses, trucks, and other efforts to reduce diesel pollution.

How much authority does Washington have to regulate emissions without federal backing?

States are really on their own. We still have authority to regulate emissions, but I can’t sugarcoat what we’ve also lost. It’s a real patchwork now to try to close the gaps. There is no easy replacement for federal tailpipe pollution rules or federal oversight of oil and gas drilling. Washington can still chart its own course because we have the authority to transition away from fossil fuels and invest in cleaner energy. The good news is that many of these changes save money and make communities more resilient. Improving home energy efficiency, for example, can help households manage extreme weather while lowering energy bills.

We also need to make it easier to build clean energy and transmission infrastructure here in Washington and across the region so we can power our own future. That means removing barriers and being honest about the scale of the work ahead.

We always knew nobody was coming to save us, but the reality is even clearer now: states like Washington will have to lead.

Which communities here are most vulnerable if pollution standards weaken?

There are so many communities in Washington on the front lines of the climate crisis. The Duwamish Valley as an example, where they’re already overburdened by air pollution, and now you could see more diesel pollution, and increased port and industrial pollution.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance is looking to electrify their drayage trucks and some of these other sources of diesel pollution. We need to see that continue despite these federal headwinds. These are frontline communities that could be breathing dirtier air, along with anyone living along highways, major roads, or near ports.

Our tribes are getting hit very hard by climate impacts already, and this will make that worse. We’ve already seen flooding and fires impacting rural communities.

Economically, the rising costs of fossil fuels like natural gas and oil are hitting lower-income households hardest. If we don’t continue to invest in alternatives and make them affordable to adopt, those household bills could go up, and that’s really hard for many families.

For readers who feel upset or powerless reading this news, what are the most meaningful actions they can take?

There’s nothing worse than feeling disempowered. It feels like extra salt in the wound as communities are still recovering from the historic flooding in December, only to have the federal government say climate change isn’t real and there’s nothing it plans to do about it.

I’m worried looking ahead to the dwindling snowpack and what that could mean for fires and smoke this summer. That’s not some distant future. It’s happening now. But there is a lot people can do.

First is voting. You need elected officials who care about these issues and are willing to be climate champions at every level.
Second is speaking up. Once leaders are in office, they still need to hear from you. Right now officials are dealing with multiple crises at once: budget gaps, an affordability crunch worsened by tariffs, federal overreach, and threats to immigrant communities. Climate change will compound those pressures, so it’s important to remind leaders that climate action matters and that people are paying attention.

The last thing is not underestimating the power of example. We’ve seen all these studies about how contagious rooftop solar is. One of the top reasons people get solar panels is because their neighbors did, and they saw it in their neighborhood and went, “Oh, that’s for me too. I could do that. Let me learn more.” The same is true with EVs and heat pumps. When people see those changes in their community, they start to explore making them too.

Being the example lets you be more independent and reap the benefits of it, but it also helps it spread. That’s what we need more than anything right now.

Do you feel confident Washington can counteract some of this rollback?

Without any federal backstop protecting us from these threats of fossil fuel pollution, the responsibility really does rest squarely on states like Washington to lead. We’re not powerless. We’re going to fight this in the courts. We’re going to fight this with state and local leadership and by investing in all the ways we can continue to make climate progress here.

But we have to take it really seriously that these damaging moves mean we have to work even harder and come together to chart that clean energy future we want. We really have to be bold to protect what we have and build on it and invest in the solutions we need more of.