Sens. Cruz, Lummis File Amicus Supporting EPA Action to Repeal Obama-era Federal Control of Vehicle Standards Rule

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights, and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) filed an amicus brief in support of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s decision to rescind the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding.

Excerpts from the amicus brief are below, and the full text of the brief can be viewed here.

"In rescinding the 2009 Endangerment Finding and repealing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission standards for motor vehicles, the EPA correctly concluded that the major questions doctrine independently barred the Agency from regulating GHG vehicle emissions to address global climate change under Clean Air Act section 202(a)(1). The EPA determined that the 2009 Endangerment Finding and subsequent GHG standards constituted major questions given their profound impact on virtually every sector of the economy and American households.

"That conclusion is undoubtedly correct. The Endangerment Finding and GHG standards were plain attempts by an administrative agency to resolve a matter of great political significance or end an earnest and profound debate across the country.' The EPA found that the GHG emission standards sought to mandate a shift from gasoline- and diesel-fueled vehicles to electric vehicles-a fundamental transformation of the transportation sector that Congress did not authorize.

"Accordingly, as the EPA correctly determined, because the 2009 Endangerment Finding and corresponding GHG vehicle emission standards 'claim[ed] the power to make decisions of vast 'economic and political significance,' the major question doctrine applies, and the Agency must be able to point to clear Congressional authorization to justify the rule. Because the EPA correctly determined that no such authorization exists, this Court must uphold the EPA's decision to rescind the rule to safeguard the Constitution's core guarantee of separation of powers.

"For the foregoing reasons, the Court should uphold the EPA's decision to rescind the 2009 Endangerment Finding and corresponding GHG vehicle emissions standards."