Lawsuit says rescission of endangerment finding – which ruled greenhouse gases threaten public health – was illegal
A coalition of 24 states, alongside a dozen cities and counties, has sued the Trump administration over its decision to revoke the bedrock scientific determination underpinning virtually all US climate regulations.
The new lawsuit, filed in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Thursday, is being led by the states of Massachusetts, California, New York and Connecticut. It argues that the Environmental Protection Agency’s February rescission of the 2009 endangerment finding – which the White House described as the “single largest deregulatory action in US history” – was illegal.
“When the federal government abandons the law and the science, everyday people suffer the consequences,” Andrea Joy Campbell, the Massachusetts attorney general, said in an emailed statement.
The lawsuit seeks to reinstate the endangerment finding, which found that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare, and formed the basis for climate standards on cars, power plants, and other sources of greenhouse gas pollution. It also aims to reverse a related move from the EPA to repeal all limits on standards for planet-warming emissions from motor vehicles.
