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A group of Democratic-led states, counties, and cities sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday over the Trump administration’s rollback of the finding that greenhouse gas emissions are harmful to public health.
“Climate change is real, and it’s already affecting our residents and our economy,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, who led the lawsuit, said in a statement. “When the federal government abandons the law and the science, everyday people suffer the consequences.”
The suit asks the court to review whether the EPA’s decision is legal. It is the latest in a series of legal challenges to the administration’s decision. The American Public Health Association last month led a coalition of environmental and advocacy groups in suing the EPA over the rollback.
The Obama-era finding on greenhouse gas emissions underpinned almost all climate change mitigation measures by the federal government, including standards that regulate emissions from tailpipes.
The EPA rescinded it on Feb. 12, saying the agency had taken the “single largest deregulatory action in American history.”
That action could be dangerous, the state and local officials allege. Campbell’s statement highlighted the costs of climate change, which has worsened public health issues like pediatric asthma rates and is expected to cause millions in damages in railroad infrastructure, in coastal cities and more.
All 23 states with Democratic attorneys general signed on to the lawsuit along with Washington, D.C., and the United States Virgin Islands. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro also joined, as did Democratic-leaning cities and counties in Ohio, California, Colorado, New York and Washington state.
The Supreme Court held in 2007 that greenhouse gases are air pollutants, case law that the EPA relied on in issuing the endangerment finding in 2009. Legal experts said when the agency rolled back the finding that the Trump administration could face a tough fight in court, particularly as it seeks to uphold the rollback while also arguing against state-level climate action.
The Trump administration is also under fire for convening a climate working group — which could have violated public records laws — to author a report casting doubt on climate science as part of the effort to overturn the finding.
Scientists said the report was riddled with errors. The EPA said that it did not rely on the report to issue the rollback of the finding “in light of concerns” about it, but critics have argued it shows the administration made its decision on shaky grounds.