Dive Brief:
- A coalition of health and environmental groups on Wednesday sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Administrator Lee Zeldin for rescinding the 2009 “endangerment finding,” a key underpinning for greenhouse gas regulation under the Clean Air Act.
- “Repealing the endangerment finding and vehicle emissions standards are among the most destructive and irresponsible actions taken by the Trump EPA to date,” Katie Nekola, general counsel for Clean Wisconsin, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “The EPA is ignoring its legal duty to protect our communities from the health harms of greenhouse gas emissions in its zealous pandering to big oil, gas and coal interests.”
- Governors and attorneys general from Democratic-led states have also vowed to sue, and mayors’ groups have condemned the rescission. “Mayors are urging EPA officials and the Administration to reverse this decision and pledge to partner with state and federal lawmakers to fight for policy that addresses climate change with the seriousness that it requires,” U.S. Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
Local leaders from both ends of the political spectrum submitted letters supporting and condemning the EPA’s proposal last summer to rescind the endangerment finding, which kicked off a formal rulemaking process that garnered more than 300,000 stakeholder comments.
A coalition of 26 Republican-led state attorneys general sent a letter stating the finding “was built on shaky ground — legally and scientifically.” A coalition of attorneys general and seven Democratic-led cities and counties sent a letter stating the repeal would exacerbate “the harms that the States and Local Governments are daily experiencing,” and a coalition of mayors and city groups stated the EPA was failing “to seriously consider the impacts of these regulatory actions in cities.”
“More than 50 U.S. cities made clear in their public submissions on this ruling that rescinding these crucial, science-based standards would endanger public health and ignore the lived realities of cities across the country,” Climate Mayors Executive Director Kate Wright said last week in an emailed statement.
The EPA announced its plans to rescind the finding last week. It entered the action into the Federal Register on Wednesday, effective April 20. The coalition of environmental and health groups — which includes the American Public Health Association, Clean Air Council, Environmental Defense Fund and Public Citizen, among others — filed its petition for review in the D.C. Circuit the same day.
EDF said in a press release that the EPA is legally required to limit emissions of air pollutants that “endanger public health or welfare” based on a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that the EPA should determine, based on science, if greenhouse gas pollution endangers human health and welfare. The agency determined it did in 2009.
“In its repeal, the Trump EPA is rehashing legal arguments that the Supreme Court already considered and rejected,” EDF stated in the press release.
The U.S. Climate Alliance, a group of 24 governors launched in 2017 to fill the void left by the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, said in a statement that the rescission is unlawful and vowed, “We will not stop fighting to protect the American people from pollution.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement that the state will challenge the action in court, calling it “a violation of well-settled law.”
“California will not stand by — we will sue to challenge this illegal action, and we will continue fighting climate pollution here in our state,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a social media post.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a statement that he would “continue to push back and defend science-based emission standards that protect the environment and our health.”
