Environmental groups and Alaskan tribes challenge the Trump EPA’s unlawful repeal of the endangerment finding and elimination of vehicle emissions standards
Washington, D.C. — On April 8, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, alongside environmental groups and Alaskan tribes, sued the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency for unlawfully repealing the endangerment finding and motor vehicle emissions standards.
The EPA’s 2009 endangerment finding is the scientific determination that greenhouse gas pollution harms public health and welfare. If allowed to stand, the repeal would abandon climate action at the federal level.
“In repealing the endangerment finding, the EPA is ignoring decades of scientific evidence and turning its back on its legal obligation to protect human health and welfare,” said Olivia Miller, interim executive director of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy. “That is especially troubling in West Virginia, where Attorney General JB McCuskey helped lead the effort from Republican states to support this rollback, even as our communities face repeated flooding, strained water systems, and an already vulnerable power grid under growing stress from climate impacts. By weakening these protections, this decision puts West Virginians’ health and safety at even greater risk. It has no basis in law, science, or reality, and that is why we are challenging it in court.”
The case was brought by:
■ Alaska Institute for Justice, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Chinik Eskimo Community, Native Village of Kwinhagak, Native Village of Nunapitchuk, Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, WE ACT, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, and Wyoming Outdoor Council, represented by Earthjustice,
■ Hoosier Environmental Council, Illinois Environmental Council, Iowa Environmental Council, Minnesota Environmental Partnership, and Ohio Environmental Council, represented by Environmental Law & Policy Center, and
■ Food & Water Watch, representing itself.
“EPA is choosing to abandon its core mandate to protect human health and the environment at the expense of communities,” said Hana Vizcarra, Deputy Managing Attorney at Earthjustice. “EPA cannot rewrite the law in order to ignore the very real harms impacting communities across the country. Earthjustice and our partners will continue to defend the rule of law and demand that EPA focus on protecting our health and environment, not boosting industry profits.”
The 2009 endangerment finding came from the landmark 2007 Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, which confirmed that the Clean Air Act authorizes EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions that endanger public health and welfare. Based on scientific analysis and rigorous review, EPA then determined in 2009 that emissions from sources like motor vehicles contribute to air pollution that harms public health and welfare. EPA set federal standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, which account for the largest source of climate emissions in the country.
Earthjustice and partners previously filed a challenge in D.C. Circuit Court representing health, environmental justice, and scientific experts.
