The US Environmental Protection Agency said this week that it will rescind a 2009 finding that greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks threaten public health.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin plans to revoke the ruling on Thursday during a White House ceremony. Environmental and public health advocacy groups said that they will fight the change.
On Tuesday, the Sierra Club said that revoking the rule will “formalize climate denialism” and overturn a finding that has provided the foundation for controlling emissions at power plants and other pollution sources. It is working with partner organizations to explore legal options, including litigation.
National Public Radio also reported on Wednesday that the nonprofit environmental law organization Earthjustice also plans to sue over the decision.
The National Wildlife Federation said that rigorous research has shown the public health risks of greenhouse gas accumulation, and the EPA is obligated to address pollutants that endanger communities.
The US Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gasses are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act, and the EPA Administrator must determine whether it has sufficient scientific proof that vehicle exhaust is hurting the public. More than two dozen states, cities, environmental and public health organizations, and the territory of American Samoa had sued the EPA over a determination during the George W. Bush Administration that the agency lacked authority to regulate carbon dioxide as a cause of climate change. The agency also claimed that, even if it had the authority, it had discretion whether to enact any rules.
In the first year of the Barack Obama administration, the EPA proposed and finalized its determinations that atmospheric carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride threaten human health and welfare as do emissions of those gasses from motor vehicles. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the agency’s decisions in 2012.
However, Zeldin said in July that the Trump Administration plans to rescind the finding, thereby removing the legal underpinning under the Clean Air Act to regulate vehicle greenhouse gas emissions. He said that the decision will reduce the cost of new cars and trucks.
The National Wildlife Federation said this week that rigorous research has shown the public health risks of greenhouse gas accumulation, and the EPA is obligated to address pollutants that endanger people and wildlife. It noted, though, that state governments and local environmental groups oppose the change and could still work to mitigate the harms of pollution.
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