A coalition of 40 US state and local governments has mounted a formal legal challenge against the Trump administration’s decision to rescind a pivotal Obama-era scientific finding that identified greenhouse gases as a direct threat to public health.
The lawsuit, filed in the US Court of Appeals, seeks to overturn last month’s repeal of the 2009 “endangerment finding”. This foundational ruling has long served as the legal bedrock for American policies regulating carbon emissions from vehicles, power stations, and industrial sources.
The petitioning group—comprising 23 states and 17 cities and agencies, including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago—contends that the administration’s reversal violates the statutory requirements of the Clean Air Act. This move follows similar litigation initiated by several environmental organisations in recent weeks.
President Donald Trump has hailed the rollback as a hallmark achievement of his term, framing the move as a triumph over what he termed the “radical” energy agendas of the Democratic Party. Conversely, his predecessor, Barack Obama, issued a stinging rebuke, stating the move would leave the nation “less safe” and “less healthy” to the benefit of the fossil fuel industry.
New York Attorney General Letitia James accused the administration of “chosen denial” in a blistering statement. “The climate crisis is here, and it is already reshaping the way we live,” James remarked, asserting that the repeal strips away protections essential to the federal climate response.
In a statement to the media, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) dismissed the litigation as “clearly motivated by politics”. The agency maintained that its re-evaluation of the 2009 finding concluded it does not grant the EPA the authority to mandate motor vehicle emission standards for climate purposes.
The repeal marks the latest chapter in the President’s sustained effort to dismantle Obama-era environmental regulations. Since returning to the White House, President Trump has once again withdrawn the US from the Paris Climate Accord and significantly relaxed fuel economy standards, frequently dismissing climate change as a “hoax”.
