Attorney General Ford Challenges Unlawful Recission of Landmark 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding

Coalition of States, Counties, and Cities Across the Country Mount Legal Challenge in Opposition to EPA's Unlawful Rollback

Carson City, NV - Today, Attorney General Ford today joined a coalition of 24 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 12 cities and counties to challenge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's unlawful attempt to rescind its 2009 Endangerment Finding - the agency's seminal determination that greenhouse gas pollution from motor vehicles drives climate change and endangers public health and welfare.

"The Endangerment Finding is grounded in clear statutory authority, Supreme Court precedent, and decades of scientific consensus, and the EPA's attempt to rescind it is both unlawful and reckless," said Attorney General Ford. "We are taking action to ensure that these critical protections remain in place and that public health is not sacrificed in the face of political expediency."

The 2009 Endangerment Finding was the direct result of 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 years of rigorous scientific analysis and review, EPA in 2009 determined that emissions from motor vehicles contribute to air pollution that harms public health and welfare. EPA then set federal standards, which have led to significant reductions in motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.

Now, almost two decades later, EPA has rushed a rulemaking process to rescind the Endangerment Finding and repeal all motor vehicle greenhouse gas standards, blatantly disregarding the law and science. EPA's rescission is based on flawed interpretations of the law - previously rejected by the Supreme Court - that the agency lacks authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The rescission also ignores decades of peer-reviewed scientific evidence confirming the reality and severity of climate change. By eliminating all existing and future federal motor vehicle greenhouse gas emission standards, the rule violates EPA's legal obligations, fundamental principles of administrative law, and the agency's mission to protect public health and welfare.

Nevada is already experiencing the growing impacts of the climate crisis, including rising temperatures, worsening drought conditions, declining snowpack, and increased wildfire risk. The trend is accelerating. Eight of the state's 10 warmest years since 1895 occurred between 2000 and 2020. Underscoring this reality, March 18, 2026 marked the hottest March day ever recorded in Las Vegas, highlighting the urgent and immediate effects of a warming climate on communities across the Silver State.

Today's lawsuit is the latest action taken by Attorney General Ford and the coalition in their ongoing effort to fight back against EPA's unlawful rescission of the 2009 Endangerment Finding. In the fall of 2025, 23 attorneys general and seven counties and cities submitted two comment letters urging EPA to abandon the proposal, arguing that it would violate settled law, clear Supreme Court precedent, and scientific consensus, endanger hundreds of millions of Americans-particularly communities disproportionately burdened by environmental harms-and cause unprecedented disruption to the regulatory landscape with catastrophic consequences for residents, industries, natural resources, and public investments.

Co-led by the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York, AG Ford is joined in filing this challenge, by the attorneys general of: Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Hawai'i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, the Commonwealth of Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin,; the District of Columbia; and the United States Virgin Islands, as well as Josh Shapiro, in his official capacity as Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; the Cities of Albuquerque, New Mexico; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Los Angeles, California; and New York, New York; the Counties of Harris, Texas; Martin Luther King, Jr., Washington; and Santa Clara, California; and the Cities and Counties of Denver, Colorado, and San Francisco, California.

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