A coalition of 39 states, counties and cities led by New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a petition Thursday challenging the Trump administration’s decision to rescind the EPA’s 2009 endangerment finding – a cornerstone of federal climate policy for nearly two decades.
The legal challenge targets a final rule published in February that reversed the conclusion that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare. The administration also repealed all federal greenhouse gas emission standards for motor vehicles.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said: ‘Across our country, communities are already suffering from climate disasters. From freak storms to devastating floods to deadly cold snaps and unbearable heat waves, the climate crisis is here, and it is already reshaping the way we live.
‘Instead of helping Americans face our new reality, the Trump administration has chosen denial, repealing critical protections that are foundational to the federal government’s response to climate change.
‘Today, I am leading a coalition of cities, counties, and states from across the country to fight back. The American people need their leaders to be honest and pragmatic about the threat of the climate crisis. We will not let the federal government abandon its responsibility to the people.’
The 2009 endangerment finding, issued after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, established that six greenhouse gases – including carbon dioxide and methane – drive climate change and threaten public health. As such governments should regulate greenhouse gases as pollutants and could be challenged if they fail to do so.
In rescinding the finding, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin argued that the Clean Air Act does not authorise the agency to regulate greenhouse gases based on global climate concerns and invoked the ‘major questions doctrine’ – a legal theory that requires clear congressional authorisation for regulations with significant economic impact.
The coalition argues that the repeal contradicts the Clean Air Act’s plain text and ignores the Supreme Court’s 2007 ruling, which held that greenhouse gases fall within the law’s definition of ‘air pollutant.’
‘The administration is attempting to rehash arguments that were already considered and settled nearly 20 years ago,’ the petition states. It further contends that the EPA’s conclusion that vehicle emissions have only a de minimis impact on climate change is contradicted by the agency’s own prior analysis and decades of scientific research.
The coalition is asking the court to vacate the rescission and reinstate the endangerment finding, warning that without it, states will lose a critical tool to combat climate change.
Photo: Jonathan Ardila
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