WASHINGTON (AP) – Twenty states and more than a dozen cities and counties sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, challenging the Trump administration’s reversal of scientific discoveries that were central to U.S. actions to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and combat greenhouse gases. climate change.
rule finalized by EPA Last month, the 2009 agreement was canceled. discovery of danger Measurements of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare. Discoveries made during the Obama era Legal basis for almost all climate regulations The Clean Air Act targets cars, power plants, and other sources of pollution that heat the planet.
The repeal would eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks and could broadly undo climate regulations for stationary sources such as power plants and oil and gas facilities.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is the second major challenge to endangerment repeal. Lawsuit filed last month by public health and environmental organizations.
A new lawsuit alleges that the EPA’s revocation of its hazardous designation is an abdication of its core responsibility to the American public.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who led the lawsuit along with the attorneys general of Massachusetts, California, and Connecticut, said, “Instead of helping Americans face this new reality, the Trump administration has chosen to go into denial, eliminating critical safeguards that are the foundation of the federal response to climate change.”
In total, 24 states, 10 cities, and five counties joined the lawsuit. Both are led by the Democratic Party.
“Climate change is real and is already impacting our residents and economy,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Joy Campbell. “When the federal government abandons law and science, ordinary people suffer the consequences.”
Massachusetts “has long led the way in protecting our communities from the dangers of greenhouse gas emissions, and we are proud to rise again to lead this fight for our future,” she said.
In a landmark 2007 case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are “air pollutants” under the Clean Air Act. Since the High Court’s decision, in a case known as Massachusetts v. EPAcourts have uniformly rejected legal challenges to endangered status certifications, including a 2023 ruling by the D.C. Court of Appeals.
EPA spokeswoman Bridget Hirsch said the lawsuit “is not about the rights or wrongs of the law or the arguments.” Rather, she says, the plaintiffs are “clearly motivated by politics.”
EPA has “carefully considered and reevaluated the legal basis” of the 2009 decision in light of recent court decisions. 2022 Supreme Court Ruling This limits how the Clean Air Act can be used to reduce carbon emissions from power plants, Hirsch said.
In addition to New York, Massachusetts, California, and Connecticut, the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, joined in the lawsuit.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection joined the lawsuit, along with the cities of Albuquerque, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, and five counties in California, Colorado, Texas, and Washington state.
The issue will likely end up before the Supreme Court, whose rulings are far more conservative than they were in 2007.
