A coalition of environmental groups and Alaskan tribes have joined the legal fight against the Trump administration’s repeal of a cornerstone of U.S. climate policy.
The Alaska Institute for Justice, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Chinik Eskimo Community and Food & Water Watch filed a petition Wednesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, challenging EPA’s move to repeal the 2009 endangerment finding and eliminate vehicle emissions standards.
“The notion that EPA shouldn’t act against climate-harming greenhouse gas emissions is akin to a fire department refusing to fight fires. It is patently absurd,” said Erin Doran, senior staff attorney at Food & Water Watch. “The entire reason EPA exists is to protect human health and the environment.”
Sheryl Musgrove, director of the Alaska Climate Justice program at the Alaska Institute for Justice, said climate change represents an “existential threat to Alaska’s rural communities and tribes.”
