A coalition of health and environmental organizations filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the EPA after the agency reversed a 2009 scientific determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health. The legal challenge targets the agency's elimination of vehicle emission standards and other climate protections.
WASHINGTON — Health and environmental organizations filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the Environmental Protection Agency, contesting the agency’s recent decision to overturn a key scientific determination that has served as the foundation for U.S. greenhouse gas regulations and climate action.
The EPA finalized a rule Thursday that eliminates a 2009 government declaration — called the endangerment finding — which concluded that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare. This Obama-era determination has served as the legal foundation for nearly all climate regulations under the Clean Air Act, covering motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources contributing to global warming.
The reversal removes all greenhouse gas emission standards for cars and trucks and could trigger a wider dismantling of climate regulations on stationary sources like power plants and oil and gas operations, according to experts.
The legal challenge was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, arguing that the EPA’s elimination of the endangerment finding violates the law. The 2009 determination backed sensible protections to reduce climate pollution, including from cars and trucks, according to the lawsuit. Vehicle standards implemented by the Biden administration were designed to “deliver the single biggest cut to U.S. carbon pollution in history, save lives and save Americans hard-earned money on gas,” the coalition stated in their court filing.
Following almost twenty years of scientific evidence that supports the 2009 determination, “the agency cannot credibly claim that the body of work is now incorrect,” stated Brian Lynk, a senior attorney at the Environmental Law & Policy Center.
“This reckless and legally untenable decision creates immediate uncertainty for businesses, guarantees prolonged legal battles and undermines the stability of federal climate regulations,” Lynk stated.
Organizations bringing the lawsuit include the American Public Health Association, American Lung Association, Alliance of Nurses for a Healthy Environment and Physicians for Social Responsibility, alongside environmental organizations such as the Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club.
The lawsuit names EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and the EPA as defendants.
President Donald Trump described the reversal as “the single largest deregulatory action in American history, by far,” while Zeldin characterized the endangerment finding as “the Holy Grail of federal regulatory overreach.”
The endangerment finding “led to trillions of dollars in regulations that strangled entire sectors of the United States economy, including the American auto industry,” Zeldin stated. “The Obama and Biden administrations used it to steamroll into existence a left-wing wish list of costly climate policies, electric vehicle mandates and other requirements that assaulted consumer choice and affordability.”
Environmental organizations characterized the action as the largest assault in U.S. history on federal authority to combat climate change. Scientific evidence supporting the endangerment finding has only strengthened in the 17 years since its approval, they argued.
The Clean Air Act legally requires EPA to restrict emissions of any air pollutant that causes or contributes to “air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.” In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts v. EPA that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases qualify as “air pollutants” under the Clean Air Act and directed EPA to make a science-based determination about whether that pollution endangers human health and welfare. EPA reached that conclusion in 2009, leading to new vehicle standards. The agency used that finding as the basis for additional standards.
The EPA’s own research determined that removing the vehicle standards will raise gas prices and force Americans to pay more for fuel, advocates noted.
The EPA’s elimination of the endangerment finding, combined with removing protections that limit vehicle emissions, “marks a complete dereliction of the agency’s mission to protect people’s health and its legal obligations under the Clean Air Act,” said Dr. Gretchen Goldman, president and CEO at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“This shameful and dangerous action … is rooted in falsehoods, not facts, and is at complete odds with the public interest and the best available science,” Goldman stated. Heat-trapping emissions and global average temperatures continue rising — mainly from burning fossil fuels — creating mounting human and economic costs worldwide, she noted.