Groups sue Trump administration over effort to roll back climate finding

WASHINGTON, DC: A coalition of public health and environmental organizations has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging its decision to repeal a longstanding federal finding that climate change poses a threat to public health and welfare.

The lawsuit filed on Wednesday, February 18 also contests the administration’s move to scrap all climate regulations governing motor vehicles, which were rescinded alongside the repeal of the so-called endangerment finding.

While the court filing did not detail the full legal arguments, the groups said in public statements that the rollback endangers public health and weakens environmental protections.

Groups warn of public health risks

“EPA has a duty to consider the well-being and safety of all, and the science is clear; climate change and air pollution threaten everyone’s health,” said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, in a written statement.

Joanne Spalding, director of the Environmental Law Program at the Sierra Club, called the decision “reckless,” arguing that rescinding the endangerment finding strips the Environmental Protection Agency of its primary authority to regulate greenhouse gases.

“The Trump administration’s reckless decision to rescind the Endangerment Finding… will have disastrous consequences for the American people, our health, and our shared future,” Spalding said. The EPA declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

Legal foundation of climate rules rolled back by Trump 

The endangerment finding has served as the legal backbone for federal climate regulations. Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA administrator must regulate motor vehicle emissions of any pollutant that, in their judgment, “cause, or contribute to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.”

In 2007, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that greenhouse gases qualify as air pollutants under the law and must be regulated if deemed a threat. Two years later, the Obama administration formally concluded that planet-warming emissions endanger public health, establishing the EPA’s authority to limit them.

The Trump administration announced last week that it would reverse the finding, arguing that emissions standards for motor vehicles “severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers.”

Officials further asserted that vehicle emissions standards have “no material impact” on global climate change concerns, driving the regulatory program.

Transportation remains the largest source of US greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 28% of the nation’s total in 2022. The United States currently ranks as the world’s second-largest emitter of climate-warming pollution.

Donald Trump and the Environmental Protection Agency finalized the repeal of the 2009 endangerment finding on February 12, 2026, eliminating the scientific and legal basis for regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.

The rule rollback also scrapped federal vehicle emissions standards and is described by the administration as a historic deregulatory move.