Environmental Groups Sue EPA For Illegal Repeal of Climate Protections

Environmental Groups Sue EPA For Illegal Repeal of Climate Protections

Environmental groups and Alaskan tribes challenge the Trump EPA's unlawful repeal of the endangerment finding and elimination of vehicle emissions standards

Contacts

Alexandria Trimble, [email protected]

Today, 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.

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."

"Climate change is an existential threat to Alaska's rural communities and Tribes," said Sheryl Musgrove, Director of the Alaska Climate Justice program at Alaska Institute for Justice. "Catastrophic permafrost thaw, massive erosion events, and more frequent and life-threatening storms are harming the lives and safety of the people who live throughout our state. The federal government must address these threats by regulating greenhouse gases and reinstating the Endangerment Finding."

"Climate change is already harming people and the Chesapeake Bay, regardless of the Trump Administration's ridiculous claims. This latest rollback is a threat to us all. Flooding and sea level rise are walloping communities up and down the Bay. Heat waves send people to hospitals from Baltimore to Richmond. Warmer waters are driving away striped bass, brook trout, and other wildlife. And increasingly intense storms are washing more pollution into rivers and the Chesapeake Bay," said Alison Hooper Prost, Senior Vice President for Programs at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation."We're proud to join our partners in fighting this rollback that endangers everyone's future."

"My wife and I chose to farm knowing that we would face challenges, but the increasingly unstable climate is making farming riskier," said Wes Gillingham, board member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York."Despite the critical role we play in the American food and fiber supply economy, farmers are completely at the mercy of droughts, floods, and other extreme weather. This policy repeal ignores the realities of climate change and will lead to the economic demise of many good farmers."

"Earlier this year, President Trump's EPA chose to abandon the agency's Endangerment Finding - a science-based, legal determination which EPA made after conducting scientific studies and analysis. The Trump EPA's decision to rescind the Endangerment Finding was made without any peer-reviewed scientific study or other evidence-based reason," said Anhthu Hoang, PhD, Esq., General Counsel & Deputy Director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice."That is why WE ACT has joined as a plaintiff, suing the EPA to ensure that it adheres to and executes its legal mandate to implement and enforce the environmental laws. Decades of scientific studies show that communities of color and low-income are disproportionately harmed by emissions of greenhouse gasses, and - before it was abandoned - the EPA's Endangerment Finding provided some degree of protection for these communities. Rather than shirking its responsibilities, EPA must fulfill its mission to protect human health and the environment."

"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 law and science regarding the Endangerment Finding are settled," said Matt Gaffney, Legal and Government Relations Director at the Wyoming Outdoor Council."Wyoming communities are already experiencing the negative impacts and costs of climate change on our health, water, agricultural heritage, and recreation economy. Instead of abandoning EPA's legal authority and moral responsibility to regulate greenhouse gases, the federal government should maintain a clear and stable regulatory framework to mitigate the worst aspects of climate change and encourage innovation and technological advancement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

"The notion that EPA shouldn't act against climate-harming greenhouse gas emissions is akin to a fire department refusing to fight fires. It is patently absurd," said Erin Doran, Senior Staff Attorney at Food & Water Watch. "The entire reason EPA exists is to protect human health and the environment. The Trump administration's attempt to ignore this fundamental truth and disavow its authority to protect people and the planet is simply wrong, which is why we are challenging this grossly unlawful action in court."

"The endangerment finding that EPA has repealed rests on nearly two decades of conclusive scientific evidence and long-settled law," said Brian Lynk, Senior Attorney at the Environmental Law & Policy Center."The transportation sector is the nation's leading source of carbon emissions that drive climate change and damage public health and welfare. Repealing sensible regulations on pollution from vehicles puts the Midwest, and the nation, at a higher risk of serious harm to the public. EPA cannot be permitted to recklessly abandon its duty to protect American public health and well-being."

"Rescinding the endangerment finding ignores decades of clear scientific evidence and puts communities in Illinois and across the country at greater risk," said Jen Walling, Chief Executive Officer at the Illinois Environmental Council. "Illinois communities are already living with the realities of climate change through extreme heat, more intense storms, and rising respiratory illnesses. Weakening these protections leaves families exposed to even greater risks, especially in neighborhoods already burdened by pollution. IEC supports ELPC's petition because the federal government has a legal and moral responsibility to limit dangerous greenhouse gas pollution. Ignoring that responsibility puts public health at risk."

"Iowans face growing threats from climate change, from severe storms to extreme heat," said Cody Smith, Director of Climate Initiatives at the Iowa Environmental Council. "EPA's refusal to recognize the risks will not make them disappear. We need rapid, unified action to mitigate greenhouse gases and protect the health, lives, and livelihoods of people across the state."

"Between wildfire smoke choking our air, floods and droughts hammering our farms, and insurance costs rising from worsening storms, Minnesota is on the front lines of the climate crisis," said Steve Morse, Executive Director at the Minnesota Environmental Partnership."We joined this lawsuit to stop the illegal and unscientific repeal of the endangerment finding because the health and well-being of Minnesotans and our natural resources must come first."

"The US EPA will not get away with eviscerating the endangerment finding, and the Ohio Environmental Council is proud to join the national fight to oppose this pro-polluter decision," said Chris Tavenor, General Counsel at the Ohio Environmental Council. "The federal government should be making its regulations based on the science, not on the interests of corporations that benefit from the deregulation of dirty, expensive fuels like coal, oil, and gas. Ohioans deserve better for their environment, as do all Americans."

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 emissionsin the country.

Earthjustice and partners previously filed a challengein D.C. Circuit Court representing health, environmental justice, and scientific experts.

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