I write to you not only because of our shared dedication to confronting the overriding threat of dangerous climate change, but also to ensure that you learn of this initiative first from us.

Tomorrow, June 16, we will file with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) our Petition to Phase Out Greenhouse (GHG) Pollution to Restore a Stable and Secure Climate.

This is the product of 24-months of research, discussion, and consultation. The decarbonization demand is ambitious, but, as you know well, no more than is required to secure our children’s future. To get it done, we need your help and full support.

We proceed here under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and specifically, its Citizen’s Petition section.¹ The statute, as amended in 2016 is strong: it requires EPA to act where a chemical substance (here, GHGs) “presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment.” By invoking TSCA, we aim to provide a secure legal foundation for a long-overdue national decarbonization effort. At this stage, there is no good alternative.

The Petition is neatly divided. Part I covers the law and demands specific changes in policy. Part II outlines the relevant science. Executive summaries of both, along with a one-page fact sheet, are available now. See our Petition page here, and its Fact Sheet here.²

Each of our co-petitioners contributed mightily, including renowned climate scientist James E. Hansen, 35-year veteran EPA scientist (now retired) Donn J. Viviani, atmospheric chemist John Birks, climate accountability analyst Richard Heede, and physician and clinical professor of psychiatry Lise Van Susteren. See their bios here.

Thursday’s filing starts a 90-day period by law, within which EPA needs to accept or reject the Petition.³

Our summary of the relevant science overwhelmingly supports an unreasonable risk determination. Unarrested GHG pollution has pressed the concentration of GHGs well into the danger zone, and we are beginning to reap the whirlwind: heightened wildfire; deadly heatwaves; extreme drought; severe flooding; rising seas; an increasingly acidified, shell-dissolving ocean.

The situation is far worse than unreasonable. As the President has observed, we confront an existential threat. Accordingly, EPA needs to act with determination and speed. Specifically, under TSCA, upon its unreasonable risk determination, the Agency “shall by rule” apply one or more requirements, including restrictions to the point of prohibition on the production and disposal of GHG pollution. Pursuant to that rulemaking, as we lay out in the Petition, EPA should both compel an emissions phaseout and require removal of a substantial share of legacy GHG emissions. Full public participation, including by traditionally marginalized groups, will be critical to getting this done.

But securing the proper determination and, even more, a strong rule, will not be easy. We anticipate overweaning opposition from the fossil-fuel industry, likely marked by impressive disinformation. We must prepare – including by forging a coalition of allies and sponsors sufficient to enable us to truly bring it before the Agency, in the federal courts, and in the Court of Public Opinion.

The fate of our climate implicates everything, while the prognosis under business as usual is intolerable. That is why we must place every significant viable legal tool to the purpose even, or perhaps especially, at this late hour.

Join us. Your personal and organizational engagement and support will resonate in our work. Our Petition page is here.⁴ At its end you and your organization can endorse the Petition and also consider contributing to this Campaign.

Only together can we make this happen. Together we must restore and protect a stable and healthy climate.

Sincerely yours,

Daniel Galpern
Founder, General Counsel & Executive Director
Climate Protection & Restoration Initiative
Info@CPRclimate.org

¹ TSCA Section 21, 15 USC §2620 of TSCA. The Petition also is based on the Administrative Procedure Act, §553(e) (right to petition for a rule) and the US Constitution, 1^st Amendment (right to petition to redress grievances).

² The full Petition goes live at 10am Eastern, when we file at EPA, but let us know if you need it before: info@cprclimate.org.

³ TSCA §6, 15 USC 2605(a).

⁴ Namely, at https://cprclimate.org/about/actions-campaigns/petition-to-epa/