A coalition of health and environmental groups has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, challenging its decision last week to rescind a 2009 finding that has served a the basis for regulating greenhouse gas emissions.
The groups say the EPA’s endangerment finding rescission undermines regulations intended to reduce emissions, in large measure by eliminating clean vehicle standards. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and local plaintiffs include the Conservation Law Foundation.
The plaintiffs allege that the Trump administration is “rehashing legal arguments” that the Supreme Court rejected in 2009 when it ruled in Massachusetts v. EPA that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act and told the EPA “to determine, based on the science, if that pollution endangers human health and welfare,” according to CLF. That determination led to new standards for vehicles and other standards in subsequent years.
“Taking away the endangerment finding doesn’t protect families — it abandons them,” CLF Senior Vice President for Law and Policy Kate Sinding Daly said in a statement Wednesday. “This scientific determination has for years served as the bedrock of our nation’s efforts to curb deadly pollution and safeguard public health and welfare. Taking it away only absolves the EPA of acting on behalf of every family in the country. We won’t let that stand and we’re prepared to take this fight to court to ensure our communities aren’t left to bear the consequences of unchecked climate-warming pollution.”
The White House last week called the endangerment finding’s rescission “the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history” and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said eliminating it would save Americans more than $1.3 trillion by eliminating regulatory requirements tied to federal emission standards for motor vehicles.
Michael P. Norton is the editor of State House News Service and State Affairs Pro Massachusetts. Reach him at mnorton@stateaffairs.com.
