Two dozen Democratic-controlled states and several major cities and counties on Thursday challenged the Trump administration’s repeal of EPA’s greenhouse gas endangerment finding.
Splitting the nation, the suit pits the 24 blue-leaning states against the 25 Republican-controlled states that have already moved to help EPA defend the repeal — leaving New Hampshire the only state not taking a side in the high-profile climate policy battle.
The states join previous lawsuits filed by environmentalists and others, with litigation soon to get fully underway. The case is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court by whichever side loses in the lower court, a process likely to take up much of the rest of Trump’s time in office.
The state coalition — led by California, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut — filed a petition to reverse EPA’s rescission of the endangerment finding, which the Obama administration issued in 2009 and lays out the legal basis for the agency to regulate greenhouse gases as a threat to public health and welfare.
