Environmental, health groups sue EPA over repealing endangerment finding

A coalition of environmental and public health organizations filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Environmental Protection Agency to stop it from repealing its endangerment finding that underpins the agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The petition for review, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, comes less than a week after the EPA said it’s ditching the basis for the regulations. 

The Obama-era finding from 2009 found that certain greenhouse gases pose a significant risk to public health and welfare, covering everything from vehicle tailpipe emissions to power plants’ greenhouse gases.

Known as “the holy grail of climate change religion,” the finding gave the federal government extensive authority to regulate emissions.

The litigants argue that “Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA is legally required to limit vehicle emissions of any ’air pollutant’ that the agency determines ’cause or contribute to air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.’”

The case was brought by the American Public Health Association, the American Lung Association, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club, among others.

“The Trump EPA’s slapdash legal arguments should be laughed out of court. Undercutting the ability of the federal government to tackle the largest source of climate pollution is deadly serious, but the administration’s legal and scientific reasons for doing so are a joke,” Meredith Hankins, the legal director for federal climate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said.

The endangerment finding was implemented because of a 2007 Supreme Court conclusion that greenhouse gases are “unambiguously” air pollutants, resulting in the EPA determining that they endanger human health and welfare.

The coalition says the Trump administration is “rehashing legal arguments” that were already rejected by the Supreme Court.

The litigation may reach the high court, which could determine presidential influence on such deregulatory moves.

But this lawsuit is only the beginning. Blue state attorneys general, such as those in Massachusetts and Colorado, are preparing lawsuits to challenge the agency’s actions after President Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin made the joint announcement last week.

“The Endangerment Finding has been the source of 16 years of consumer choice restrictions and trillions of dollars in hidden costs for Americans,” Mr. Zeldin said in a statement at the time.