EPA’s repeal of its so-called endangerment finding, which once demanded the agency regulate climate pollution, formally took effect Monday as opponents of the move pushed for legal intervention.
It’s now up to the courts to decide whether the Trump administration’s bid to stop regulating greenhouse gases by overturning the 16-year-old scientific finding will survive.
States, advocates for public health and the environment, and industry groups filed petitions ahead of Monday night’s deadline urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to send EPA back to the drawing board on the endangerment finding repeal and rescission of all motor vehicle climate standards. The agency released both as a package Feb. 12.
Hours before the deadline, the environmental petitioners — including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense Fund and Sierra Club — asked the court to defer calling for briefing proposals for 90 days to allow EPA time to reconsider. They have argued that EPA’s final rule relied on modeling, analysis and arguments that the public was never given an opportunity to consider, because they weren’t in the proposal.
