Doctor warns Trump’s climate policy rollback could cost WA $73 billion, harm children’s health

Medical experts are raising alarms about the Trump administration’s decision to eliminate a key environmental regulation, warning the move could have far-reaching consequences for public health.

The administration announced last week it is ending the endangerment finding, an Obama-era policy that established climate pollution as a threat to human health. Officials also plan to roll back vehicle emission standards.

Lisa Patel, M.D., executive director of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, said the endangerment finding has served as the foundation for regulating climate pollution for more than a decade.

“It was based on a mountain of scientific evidence in 2009 that showed that climate change was a danger to our health,” Patel said on “Seattle’s Morning News.” “Not only has the evidence grown since then, but I think all of us, particularly in Washington state, are feeling the impacts already in terms of extreme heat and wildfires.”

Patel, who also works as a pediatric hospitalist caring for newborns and premature infants, said the medical community views climate change as one of the greatest health threats facing children born today.

She pointed to the 2021 heat dome event in Washington that killed approximately 400 people and warned of worsening wildfire smoke that drives premature mortality, cancer, asthma, COPD, and increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

“A child born today can expect to breathe poorer air quality than what we enjoyed,” Patel said.

Children face particular vulnerability, she explained, because pollution from burning fossil fuels can cross the placenta and enter a developing fetus. During wildfire and extreme heat events, hospitals see increases in preterm labor and childhood respiratory problems.

“Their airways are smaller, so that smoke and that pollution really affects their lungs,” Patel said.

She noted that firefighters battling increasingly severe wildfires are showing up with earlier and more aggressive forms of lung cancer, with some requiring lung transplants.

Decision could cost WA $73 billion

The Economic Defense Fund recently completed a state-by-state analysis projecting Washington could face up to $73 billion in additional fuel costs and $11 billion in health-related expenses as a result of the policy changes.

“We’re talking about fossil fuel companies making profit while we are left bearing the cost,” Patel said.

She rejected the notion that scientific debate exists about climate change, noting that roughly 75% of Americans acknowledge it as a legitimate concern.

“There is no doubt about the science. Let me be very clear about that,” Patel said. “There are just a small number of people who basically have been swayed by fossil fuel companies to spread this kind of misinformation.”

She compared the tactics to those employed by tobacco companies decades ago.

“Pump out misinformation, protect the industry profit, make us pay the cost for their profits,” she said.

Patel urged residents to contact elected officials and speak out against the rollbacks.

“There are multiple actions the administration is taking to protect industry profit at the expense of our pocketbooks, our health, our well-being,” she said. “Now is the time to speak up.”

Trump calls this the biggest deregulatory move in American history. Speaking at the White House last Thursday, he said the finding hurt the auto industry and drove up prices. The White House claims the move will save Americans about $2,400 on future vehicles.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the forced transition to electric vehicles is now over.

The Environmental Protection Agency is already being sued by a coalition of health and environmental groups.

Manda Factor is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. Follow Manda on X and email her here. 

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