Washington– A coalition of health and environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, challenging its decision last week that invalidated a scientific finding that was the central basis of American action to regulate and combat greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change.
The rule finalized Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency repeals a 2009 government declaration known as a hazard finding that determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threaten public health and well-being. The discovery of the Obama era is The legal basis for almost all climate regulations Under the Clean Air Act, cars, power plants, and other sources of pollution are heating up the planet.
Experts say the repeal eliminates all greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks and could unleash a broader rollback of climate regulations related to stationary sources such as power plants and oil and gas facilities.
The legal challenge, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, asserts that the EPA’s reversal of the threat findings is unlawful. The lawsuit says the 2009 results support commonsense safeguards to reduce climate pollution, including pollution from cars and trucks. The Biden administration’s clean vehicle standards were designed to “achieve the single largest reduction in U.S. carbon pollution in history, saving lives and saving Americans hard-earned money on gas,” the coalition said in filing the case.
Brian Link, a prominent environmental law attorney, said that after nearly two decades of scientific evidence supporting the 2009 findings, “the agency cannot credibly claim that the working group is incorrect now.” & Policy Centre.
“This reckless and legally indefensible decision creates immediate uncertainty for businesses, ensures protracted legal battles and undermines the stability of federal climate regulations,” Link said.
The case was brought by groups including the American Public Health Association, the American Lung Association, the Nurses Alliance for a Healthy Environment, and Physicians for Social Responsibility, along with environmental groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity, the Conservation Law Foundation, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Club.
The lawsuit names EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and the EPA itself as defendants.
President Donald Trump said in announcing the repeal that it was the “largest single action of deregulation in American history, by far,” while Zeldin called the discovery of the risk “the holy grail of federal regulatory overreach.”
The discovery of the risk “led to trillions of dollars in regulations that stifled entire sectors of the US economy, including the US auto industry,” Zeldin said. “The Obama and Biden administrations have used it to force a left-wing wish list of costly climate policies, electric vehicle mandates and other requirements that assault consumer choice and affordability into existence.”
Environmental groups called the move the largest single attack in US history against federal authority to address climate change. They said the evidence supporting the risk finding has grown stronger in the 17 years since its approval.
Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA is legally required to limit emissions of any air pollutants that cause or contribute to “air pollution that could reasonably be expected to endanger the public health or welfare.” In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts v. EPA that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are “air pollutants” under the Clean Air Act and required EPA to determine, based on science, whether such pollution endangers human health and well-being. The EPA made this decision in 2009, setting new standards for vehicles. This result was built upon when issuing other standards.
the EPA’s own analysis Advocates said eliminating vehicle standards would raise gas prices and force Americans to spend more on fuel.
EPA’s rescission of the hazard findings, along with eliminating safeguards to limit vehicle emissions, “represents 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 of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“This shameful and dangerous act… is rooted in lies, not facts, and is completely inconsistent with the public interest and the best available science,” Goldman said. She said greenhouse emissions and average global temperatures are rising – primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels – contributing to growing human and economic losses around the world.