The Environmental Protection Agency’s mission is clear and simple: “to protect human health and the environment.”

Since its creation in 1970, the EPA has enforced landmark environmental laws like the Clean Air Act, established national standards and exposure limits for toxic chemicals and air pollutants, and taken action to protect frontline communities across the country. It is the primary enforcer of climate and environmental regulations in the U.S. and has been an instrumental force in reducing emissions and shaping a cleaner future.

Unfortunately, President Trump and Administrator Zeldin seem determined to abandon the EPA’s historic mission.

On March 12th—what Zeldin has called “the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen”—the current administration announced 31 actions to roll back just about every environmental regulation and protection you can think of. This extensive list includes reconsiderations of tailpipe emissions standards, pollution limits for power plants, and, most importantly, the endangerment finding—which clearly states that greenhouse gases harm human health and the environment.

The EPA’s reconsideration applies not just to the endangerment finding but to every rule that relies on it—in other words, just about every major piece of climate policy since 2009.

In addition to this major deregulatory effort, the EPA has fired nearly 400 probationary employees since the start of Trump’s term. If they follow through with their workforce reduction plan, they’ll fire about 1,500 more, including completely eliminating the Office of Research and Development. This would not only result in a massive loss of expertise but also impact the EPA’s ability to establish regulations and standards that accurately reflect the best available science.

Naturally, Zeldin has framed these aggressive efforts as cost-cutting measures. But the EPA’s own assessments show that eliminating regulations will actually yield annual economic benefits of $254 billion—six times the estimated annual regulatory costs—and prevent 200,000 deaths over the next 25 years.

We can’t overstate how bad this is. But all is not lost:

Deregulation of this scale takes time, and the courts aren’t going to make it easy.

Rolling back any established regulation involves rulemaking in compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act and a public comment period. This process can take months, and even if a repeal is successful, it can still be legally challenged. The endangerment finding and each rule that relies on it would have to undergo its own lengthy repeal process.

Additionally, any move to reverse the endangerment finding all but guarantees a fight with the Supreme Court—one that the Trump Administration would need a mountain of evidence to win. Even if they do, a reversal could ultimately backfire on the fossil fuel industry, allowing state- and local-level climate lawsuits to proceed by eliminating the basis for federal preemption.

Regardless of how the situation develops, we’re determined to resist Zeldin’s deregulatory efforts. Let’s get to work!