By Abbas Nazil
More than a dozen public health and environmental justice organizations have filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency challenging its decision to revoke the landmark “endangerment finding” that underpins federal climate regulations in the United States.
The lawsuit, filed in the Washington DC circuit court, argues that the agency’s rollback of the 2009 determination violates its legal duty under the Clean Air Act by eliminating the scientific and legal basis for regulating greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, power plants and industrial sources.
The endangerment finding established that heat-trapping pollution threatens public health and welfare, forming the foundation for more than a decade of federal climate policy.
The suit names the EPA and its administrator, Lee Zeldin, as defendants and was filed by legal groups Earthjustice and Clean Air Task Force on behalf of organizations including the American Public Health Association, the American Lung Association, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club.
Plaintiffs contend that rescinding the finding represents a major setback to efforts to address the climate crisis and undermines decades of scientific consensus.
Gretchen Goldman, president and CEO of the Union of Concerned Scientists, described the repeal as a dangerous abandonment of the agency’s mission to safeguard public health.
President Donald Trump has defended the move, calling it the largest deregulatory action in American history and arguing that previous administrations used the finding to impose costly climate policies.
An EPA spokesperson said the agency reevaluated the legal foundation of the finding and revoked it to comply with congressional intent, asserting that Congress never granted authority to regulate greenhouse gases from cars and trucks.
Legal experts note that the Supreme Court previously affirmed the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases nearly two decades ago and that courts have repeatedly upheld the endangerment finding.
Separately, 18 young people aged one to 22 filed a petition challenging the repeal, represented by Our Children’s Trust and Public Justice, arguing that the rollback infringes on constitutional rights related to life and liberty.
The legal battles set the stage for a significant court test over federal climate authority and the future direction of U.S. environmental policy.