UCS Joins Lawsuit Challenging Trump Administration’s Unlawful Endangerment Finding Repeal

Today, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) joined a group of environmental, public health and science nonprofits in filing suit against the Trump administration for unlawfully repealing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) endangerment finding and rolling back emissions standards for vehicles despite the transportation sector being the largest source of U.S. climate pollution.

The 2007 Supreme Court ruling Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency—a court case where UCS was a petitioner—established that heat-trapping emissions are covered by the Clean Air Act. EPA’s 2009 endangerment finding then confirmed that global warming emissions are a threat to public health and the environment, with subsequent court rulings repeatedly reaffirming EPA’s obligation to the public to regulate these harmful emissions.

Below is a statement by Dr. Gretchen Goldman, president and CEO of UCS.

“EPA’s repeal of the endangerment finding and safeguards to limit vehicle emissions marks a complete dereliction of the agency’s mission to protect people’s health and its legal obligation under the Clean Air Act. This shameful and dangerous action by the Trump administration and EPA Administrator Zeldin is rooted in falsehoods not facts and is entirely at odds with the public interest and the best available science. Heat-trapping emissions and global average temperatures are rising—primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels—contributing to a mounting human and economic toll across the nation. This anti-science administration must be held to account for evading its responsibility to help address this acute crisis and we’re going to help make sure that happens.”

UCS is being represented by Earthjustice in this latest lawsuit. The joint press release from groups filing the lawsuit is available here. Please contact UCS Media Director Ashley Siefert Nunes to speak with a UCS expert.

UCS filed comments on behalf of its half a million supporters and its network of more than 22,000 scientists to voice strong opposition to EPA’s proposed repeal of the endangerment finding and vehicle standards. It also submitted a letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin that was signed by more than 1,000 scientists opposing repeal of the endangerment finding and urging the agency to stop dismantling critical climate regulations and fulfill the mission of the agency to protect public health.

UCS has also filed and recently won a suit against the Trump administration related to its violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. A federal judge recently declared the Trump administration violated federal law when it secretly formed a “Climate Working Group” and tasked it with writing a dangerously slanted report that the administration then used as a basis for its proposal to overturn the endangerment finding. As part of that lawsuit—brought by UCS and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)—the administration was compelled to turn over more than 100,000 documents, which UCS and EDF plan to make available to the public in early March.