A coalition of environmental and health organisations has filed a lawsuit challenging the US Environmental Protection Agency’s repeal of the ‘endangerment finding’, which states that climate-related pollution is a danger to public health and welfare.
Among the groups that filed the suit, in the DC Circuit, are the Clean Air Task Force, Earthjustice, Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Public Citizen, the the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Sierra Club, among others.
The named defendants are Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the EPA, and the agency itself.
Endangerment finding
The suit references a precedent set in 2007 by the Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases unambiguously should be considered ‘air pollutants’ under the Clean Air Act, leading to the determination of the endangerment finding in 2009.
The plaintiffs are also challenging the decision by the EPA to eliminate carbon emissions standards from vehicles.
‘Disastrous consequences’
“The Trump administration’s reckless decision to rescind the endangerment finding and strip the EPA of its primary authority to regulate greenhouse gases will have disastrous consequences for the American people, our health, and our shared future,” commented Joanne Spalding, director of the Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program.
Elsewhere, Brian Lynk, senior attorney with the Environmental Law & Policy Center, said that the EPA’s move is more than a “mere rollback”, with the Trump administration attempting to “completely disavow its statutory authority to regulate greenhouse gases from motor vehicles. After two decades of scientific evidence supporting the 2009 finding, the agency cannot credibly claim that the body of work is now incorrect.
“This reckless and legally untenable decision creates immediate uncertainty for businesses, guarantees prolonged legal battles, and undermines the stability of federal climate regulations. EPA cannot be permitted to abandon its responsibility to protect public health and welfare.”
In addition, Dr. Gretchen Goldman, president and CEO at the Union of Concerned Scientists, described the EPA’s repeal of the endangerment finding and safeguards to limit vehicle emissions “a complete dereliction of the agency’s mission to protect people’s health and its legal obligation under the Clean Air Act. […] This anti-science administration must be held to account for evading its responsibility to help address this acute crisis and we’re going to help make sure that happens.” Read more here, here and here.
