States sue over EPA's rollback of key climate rule

California and others challenge the agency's move to rescind the endangerment finding.

- BY HAYLEY SMITH

THE SUIT seeks to restore greenhouse gas emission standards for autos. Above is EPA chief Lee Zeldin, right.

(GENARO MOLINA Los Angeles Times)

California is suing the Trump administration over its decision to roll back the endangerment finding, the U.S. government's longstanding scientific conclusion that planet-heating pollution seriously threatens Americans, state officials announced Thursday.

Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Air Resources Board are co-leading a coalition of 25 attorneys general, the governor of Pennsylvania and 10 cities and counties in a petition challenging the Environmental Protection Agency filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The 2009 endangerment finding was a long-awaited, foundational piece of the nation’s effort to address climate change, and it underpinned much of U.S. climate policy — including the EPA’s ability to regulate vehicles’ greenhouse gas emissions.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin touted the February repeal as “the single largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States of America.”

The coalition has argued that rescinding the endangerment finding is a violation of settled law, including clear Supreme Court precedent, as well as broad scientific consensus over the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on human health and welfare. Its rollback will disrupt the regulatory landscape and result in significant increases in greenhouse gas emissions, which drive climate change, they said.

The lawsuit will ask the court to vacate the EPA's repeal and restore greenhouse gas emission standards for vehicles. A formal complaint is pending the judge’s acceptance of the petition.