Two leading environmental groups are suing the Trump administration for “secretly” convening a panel of climate contrarians to bolster its effort to topple a pillar of U.S. climate action.
The Environmental Defense Fund and Union of Concerned Scientists filed suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, saying the administration broke the law by using an “unaccountable” group of handpicked skeptics to make the scientific case to repeal the landmark 2009 endangerment finding.
“Federal law does not permit agencies to create or rely on such secret, unaccountable groups when engaged in policymaking,” the lawsuit charges. The Nixon-era Federal Advisory Committee Act mandates transparency, including requiring meetings, emails and other records of federal advisory committees be open to the public, the lawsuit says.
The “2025 Climate Working Group” was assembled in March by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and last month produced a 151-page report that conflicts with and distorts the consensus view of climate scientists to support President Donald Trump’s effort to repeal the endangerment finding.
