Trump environmental rollbacks would boost pollution and endanger lives, former EPA heads say

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three former Environmental Protection Agency leaders sounded an alarm Friday, saying rollbacks proposed by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin endanger the lives of millions of Americans and abandon the agency's dual mission to protect the environment and human health.

Zeldin said Wednesday he plans to roll back 31 key environmental rules on everything from clean air to clean water and climate change. Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy called Zeldin's announcement "the most disastrous day in EPA history.''

The warning by McCarthy, who served under two Democratic administrations, was echoed by two former EPA heads who served under Republican presidents.

Zeldin's comprehensive plan to undo decades-old regulations was nothing short of a “catastrophe” and “represents the abandonment of a long history” of EPA actions to protect the environment, said William K. Reilly, who led the agency under President George H.W. Bush and played a key role in amending the Clean Air Act in 1990.

“What this administration is doing is endangering all of our lives — ours, our children, our grandchildren," added Christine Todd Whitman, who led EPA under President George W. Bush. “We all deserve to have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. If there’s an endangerment finding to be found anywhere, it should be found on this administration because what they’re doing is so contrary to what the Environmental Protection Agency is about.''

Whitman was referring to one of the major actions Zeldin announced: to reconsider a scientific finding that planet-warming greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. The agency’s 2009 finding has been the legal underpinning for most U.S. action against climate change, including regulations for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources.

Environmentalists and climate scientists call the endangerment finding a bedrock of U.S. law and say any attempt to undo it will have little chance of success.

Whitman and the other former agency heads said they were stunned that the Trump administration would even try to undo the finding and a host of other longtime agency rules. If approved, the rule changes could cause “severe harms” to the environment, public health and the economy, they said.

“This EPA administrator now seems to be doing the bidding of the fossil fuel industry more than complying with the mission of the EPA,'' said McCarthy, who led the agency under President Barack Obama and was a top climate adviser to President Joe Biden.

McCarthy and the other two retired leaders emphasized that environmental protection and economic prosperity are not mutually exclusive, saying strong regulations have enabled both a cleaner environment and a growing economy since the agency's founding 55 years ago.

EPA spokeswoman Molly Vaseliou said President Donald Trump “advanced conservation and environmental stewardship while promoting economic growth for families across the country” in his first term “and will continue to do so this term.”

Trump, who has called climate change a hoax, rolled back more than 100 environmental laws in his first term as president. He campaigned on a promise to “drill, baby, drill” and vowed to ease regulations on fossil fuel companies. In his current term, he has frozen funds for climate programs and other environmental spending, fired scientists working for the National Weather Service and cut federal support for renewable energy.

Reilly said he feared that Zeldin and Trump, influenced by billionaire Elon Musk and his government-cutting agency, would return to a pre-EPA era when industry was free to pollute virtually at will, filling the air in many cities with dangerous smog and rivers with industrial waste.

"I wonder if the malefactors are going to give us more burning rivers,'' Reilly said. The comment was a reference to an infamous 1969 incident in which Cleveland's Cuyahoga River caught fire, spurring passage of the federal Clean Water Act and creation of the EPA a year later during the administration of Republican President Richard Nixon.

The former EPA administrators published an op-ed in the New York Times last month warning of likely environmental harm as the Trump administration imposes funding freezes, cuts spending and fires more than a thousand employees. In a statement Friday, they said the plan to undo environmental rules “sets the country on a course that will cause irreparable harm to Americans, businesses and environmental protection efforts nationwide.”

Regulations are hard to make — intentionally so, McCarthy said. “They're difficult. They take a lot of effort, which is why I think most of us are scratching our heads as to why we'd really want to keep rethinking what has fundamentally been working.”

Zeldin, in announcing the rule changes, said, Trump officials “are driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age.''

Among the changes are plans to rewrite a rule restricting air pollution from fossil-fuel fired power plants and a separate measure restricting emissions from cars and trucks. Zeldin and the Republican president incorrectly label the car rule as an electric vehicle “mandate.″

Biden’s Democratic administration had said the power plant rules would reduce pollution and improve public health while supporting the reliable, long-term supply of electricity that America needs. Biden, who made fighting climate change a top priority of his presidency, pledged that half of all new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. will be zero-emission by 2030.

The EPA also will take aim at rules restricting industrial pollution of mercury and other air toxins, soot pollution and a “good neighbor” rule intended to restrict smokestack emissions that burden downwind areas with smog. Zeldin also targeted a clean water law that provides federal protections for rivers, streams and wetlands.

If approved after a lengthy process that includes public comment, the set of actions will eliminate trillions of dollars in regulatory costs and “hidden taxes,” Zeldin said, lowering the cost of living for American families and reducing prices for such essentials such as buying a car, heating your home and operating a business.

Environmentalists have vowed to fight the changes, which one group said would result in “the greatest increase in pollution in decades″ in the U.S.

A sign on the headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency is photographed Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

FILE - The Jeffrey Energy Center coal-fired power plant operates near Emmett, Kan., Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

FILE - The CHS oil refinery is silhouetted against the setting sun Sept. 28, 2024, in McPherson, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

FILE - Former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., President-elect Donald Trump's pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, appears before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Capitol Hill, Jan. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

FILE - Oil Spill Commission co-chair William Reilly, speaks at a hearing in Washington, Sept. 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

FILE - Former White House national climate adviser Gina McCarthy speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Nov. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Teresa de Miguel, File)

FILE - Christine Todd Whitman, the former Republican Governor of New Jersey, speaks, March 6, 2019, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has told allies to “keep the pressure” on Russian President Vladimir Putin to back a ceasefire in Ukraine, hailing Ukraine as the “party of peace.”

In his opening remarks Saturday, Starmer said Putin will “sooner or later” have to “come to the table.”

Unlike the first summit on March 2, the meeting of what Starmer has termed the “coalition of the willing” is being conducted virtually. The call is expected to delve into how countries can help Ukraine militarily and financially as well as gauging support for any future possible peacekeeping mission in the event Putin backs a cessation of hostilities.

“My feeling is that sooner or later he's going to have to come to the table and engage in serious discussion, but — this is a big but for us this morning in our meeting — we can’t sit back and simply wait for that to happen," Starmer told leaders while sitting in front of a screen in an office in 10, Downing Street.

“I think that means strengthening Ukraine so they can defend themselves, and strengthening, obviously, in terms of military capability, in terms of funding, in terms of the provision of further support from all of us to Ukraine.”

Around 25 countries are expected to be involved in the call, including European partners such as France and Italy, and Ukraine. Leaders from Australia, Canada and New Zealand, as well as officials from NATO and the European Union’s executive, are also set to take part. The United States is not represented at the meeting.

Saturday’s meeting takes place in the wake of a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has backed. Putin has indicated that he supports a truce in principle but has set out a host of details that need to be clarified before agreeing to a ceasefire.

“President Zelensky, who’s with us this morning, has shown once again that Ukraine is the party of peace, because he has agreed to and committed to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire," Starmer said. “Now what we see, and this is centerpiece for our discussions today, is that Putin is the one trying to delay.”

The United States has shifted its approach on the war since the return of President Donald Trump to the White House. The change of approach relative to that taken by Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, became particularly notable after Trump clashed with Zelenskyy on Feb. 28 in the Oval Office.

Trump voiced optimism Friday that Putin, who met with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff earlier in the week, will back a ceasefire.

“I'm getting from the standpoint about a ceasefire and ultimately a deal some pretty good vibes coming out of Russia,” he said.

Starmer has taken the lead, along with French President Emmanuel Macron, in assembling the “coalition of the willing,” in part to persuade Trump to maintain support for Kyiv. One outcome has already been a growing acceptance from European countries in particular that they need to do more to ensure their own security, including by increasing their defense spending.

Images from the Elysee showed Macron and his aides listening to Starmer's opening statement in a room of the French presidential palace.

Ukraine, under severe military pressure on parts of the front line three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, has already endorsed the truce proposal. Russia’s army has gained battlefield momentum, and analysts say Putin likely will be reluctant to rush into a ceasefire while he feels he has an advantage.

Starmer said that if Putin is “serious about peace,” he has to “stop his barbaric attacks" on Ukraine and agree to a ceasefire.

“The world is watching,” he said.

John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks with European leaders at the beginning of a video conference at 10 Downing Street in London, England, March 15, 2025. (Leon Neal/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks with European leaders at the beginning of a video conference at 10 Downing Street in London, England, March 15, 2025. (Leon Neal/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks with European leaders at the beginning of a video conference at 10 Downing Street in London, England, March 15, 2025. (Leon Neal/Pool Photo via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron, second left, , shakes hands with Colonel-General Ruslan Khomchak, First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, as French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, right, and Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces Thierry Burkhard, left, look on during a meeting on the conflict in Ukraine at the Musee de la Marine as part of the Paris Defense and Strategy Forum in Paris, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (Sarah Meyssonnier/Pool via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro during their talks via videoconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during the briefing in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Friday, March 14, 2025, Russian soldiers ride atop of self-propelled gun at an area in the Kursk region of Russia after it was taken over by Russian troops. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Friday, March 14, 2025, a Russian soldier rises a red flag atop of a house at an area in the Kursk region of Russia after it was taken over by Russian troops. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer gestures during a Q&A session after delivering a speech on plans to reform the civil service, during a visit to Reckitt Benckiser Health Care UK Ltd in Kingston upon Hull, England, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Oli Scarff/Pool Photo via AP)

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer departs 10 Downing Street to attend Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament in London, England, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)