EPA Sued Over Illegal Repeal of Climate Protections

(Washington, D.C. – February 18, 2026) A broad coalition of health and environmental groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today over its illegal determination that it is not responsible for protecting us from climate pollution and its elimination of rules to cut the tailpipe pollution fueling the climate crisis and harming people’s health. 

The case, filed in the D.C. Circuit, challenges the Trump EPA’s rescission of the 2009 endangerment finding, which found that climate pollution is a threat to public health and welfare. 

The finding supported commonsense safeguards to cut that pollution, including from cars and trucks. In addition, the agency eliminated the clean vehicle standards, which were set to deliver the single biggest cut to U.S. carbon pollution in history, save lives, and save Americans hard-earned money on gas.

The case was brought by:  

• The American Public Health Association, American Lung Association, Alliance of Nurses for a Healthy Environment, Clean Wisconsin, represented by Clean Air Task Force
• Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ), Clean Air Council, Friends of the Earth, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Rio Grande International Study Center (RGISC), and the Union of Concerned Scientists represented by Earthjustice
• Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental Law & Policy Center, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), Public Citizen, and Sierra Club

The named defendants are EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and the EPA itself as an agency.   

Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA is legally required to limit vehicle emissions of any air pollutant that the agency determines “cause or contribute to air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.” In 2007, the Supreme Court held in Massachusetts v. EPA that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases unambiguously are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act and told the EPA to determine, based on the science, if that pollution endangers human health and welfare. The EPA made that determination in 2009, which led to new standards for vehicles. It built on that finding when issuing other standards.  

In its repeal, the Trump EPA is rehashing legal arguments that the Supreme Court already considered and rejected in Massachusetts v. EPA.  

Along with the repeal of the endangerment finding, the EPA eliminated all carbon emissions standards from vehicles. The EPA’s clean car standards set in 2024 would save drivers of new cars an average of $6,000 over the lifetime of their vehicles. The EPA’s own analysis found that eliminating the vehicle standards will increase gas prices, force Americans to spend more on fuel, and be a net negative for the economy.  

Quotes from the coalition:

“Ignoring the scientific evidence of the threat climate pollution poses to the health of all of us sends a very wrong message to communities across the nation and around the world. The EPA has a duty to consider the well-being and safety of all, and the science is clear; climate change and air pollution threaten everyone’s health,” said Georges C. Benjamin, MD, chief executive officer of the American Public Health Association. “To reverse course now and to also repeal limits on climate pollution from vehicles, puts everyone in the country at risk of experiencing serious and preventable harm. It also weakens our nation’s ability to address the severe health impacts caused by climate change.” 

“Repealing the Endangerment Finding endangers all of us. People everywhere will face more pollution, higher costs, and thousands of avoidable deaths,” said Peter Zalzal, distinguished counsel and associate vice president of clean air strategies at Environmental Defense Fund. “The Trump EPA’s action tramples mountains of scientific evidence, ignores the law, and is fundamentally at odds with EPA’s core responsibility to protect us from dangerous pollution. We are challenging this action in court, where evidence matters, and we will continue working together to build a better, safer and more prosperous future.” 

“This is not a mere rollback. The EPA is attempting to completely disavow its statutory authority to regulate greenhouse gases from motor vehicles. After two decades of scientific evidence supporting the 2009 finding, the agency cannot credibly claim that the body of work is now incorrect. This reckless and legally untenable decision creates immediate uncertainty for businesses, guarantees prolonged legal battles, and undermines the stability of federal climate regulations. The EPA cannot be permitted to abandon its responsibility to protect public health and welfare," said Brian Lynk, Senior Attorney, Environmental Law & Policy Center. 

“The repeal of the EPA’s endangerment finding is illegal, and if allowed to stand, it will have devastating impacts on public health and a livable climate for decades,” said Adina Rosenbaum, attorney with Public Citizen Litigation Group.  
 
"The Trump EPA's slapdash legal arguments should be laughed out of court. Undercutting the ability of the federal government to tackle the largest source of climate pollution is deadly serious, but the administration's legal and scientific reasons for doing so are a joke," said Meredith Hankins, legal director for federal climate at NRDC.   

“Revoking the endangerment finding sets our country down a dangerous path that will have unimaginable consequences for so many. It ignores the real harms that people and communities like ours along the Rio Grande in South Texas are already experiencing from declining rainfall, heat, and fragile ecosystems,” said Tricia Cortez, executive director of Rio Grande International Study Center. “We have a moral obligation to our current and future generations to protect their future and the well-being of our planet’s climate. We must act now to tackle and reduce all sources of harm. We need our national leaders to do everything in their power to protect our human race, and to leave behind a habitable and thriving world for those to come after us.”   

“Here in the Inland Valley, climate change isn’t some abstract future threat—it’s something our families live with every day. It’s parents worrying about their kids’ asthma as diesel trucks rumble past schools and neighborhoods. It’s workers commuting through smog and extreme heat, and families cutting short time outdoors because the air simply isn’t safe to breathe, it's wildfires and flooding,” said Ana Gonzalez, executive director of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice. “By trying to repeal the endangerment finding and weaken vehicle greenhouse gas standards, the Trump administration’s EPA is abandoning its legal duty to protect communities like ours. That decision would lock in more pollution, more dangerous heat, and more health risks—threatening our well-being, our local economy and our children’s future. We won’t stand by while climate denial becomes official policy and puts the Inland Valley at risk.” 

“The EPA’s repeal of the endangerment finding and safeguards to limit vehicle emissions marks a complete dereliction of the agency’s mission to protect people's health and its legal obligation under the Clean Air Act. This shameful and dangerous action by the Trump administration and EPA Administrator Zeldin is rooted in falsehoods not facts and is at complete odds with the public interest and the best available science. Heat-trapping emissions and global average temperatures are rising—primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels—contributing to a mounting human and economic toll across the nation. This anti-science administration must be held to account for evading its responsibility to help address this acute crisis and we’re going to help make sure that happens,” said Dr. Gretchen Goldman, president and CEO at the Union of Concerned Scientists. 

“We’re suing to stop Trump from torching our kids’ future in favor of a monster handout to oil companies,” said David Pettit, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “Nobody but Big Oil profits from Trump trashing climate science and making cars and trucks guzzle and pollute more. Consumers will pay more to fill up, and our skies and oceans will fill up with more pollution. The EPA’s rollbacks are based on political poppycock, not science or law, and the courts should see it that way.” 

“The endangerment finding has been the backbone of climate policy for 17 years, protecting us from air pollution that endangers public health and welfare—including greenhouse gases that are driving climate change,” said Lawrence Hafetz, Clean Air Council’s legal director. “By repealing the finding, we are sweeping the single deadliest type of pollution, climate pollution, under the rug. Deadly floods, droughts, wildfires, and hurricanes are harming our health, our communities, and our economy. This climate chaos plan is decimating the EPA’s ability to act when we need protections more than ever.” 
 

“We need to call the Trump administration's repeal of the engagement finding what it is: climate denialism and the EPA abandoning its responsibility to protect us from climate change,” said Katie Huffling, DNP, RN, CNM, FAAN, executive director, Alliance of Nurses for a Healthy Environment. “The EPA is legally required to protect against air pollution that endangers the public’s health. It’s time that the EPA be held accountable for these reckless actions and get back to its mission to protect human health and the environment.” 

"Repealing the endangerment finding and vehicle emissions standards are among the most destructive and irresponsible actions taken by the Trump EPA to date,” said Katie Nekola, general counsel, Clean Wisconsin. “The dangers of climate change are becoming ever more apparent as Wisconsin experiences record heat, toxic air from wildfire smoke, and extreme weather. The EPA is ignoring its legal duty to protect our communities from the heath harms of greenhouse gas emissions in its zealous pandering to big oil, gas and coal interests." 

"The EPA's rollback of the endangerment finding is a devastating decision that goes against the science and testimony of countless scientists, health care professionals, and public health practitioners,” said Ankush K. Bansal, MD, DCM, FACP, FACPM, SFHM, Physicians for Social Responsibility board president. “It will result in direct harm to the health of Americans throughout the country, particularly children, older adults, those with chronic illnesses, and other vulnerable populations, rural to urban, red and blue, of all races and incomes. The increased exposure to harmful pollutants and other greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel production and consumption will make America sicker, not healthier, less prosperous, not more, for generations to come.” 

“Taking away the endangerment finding doesn’t protect families—it abandons them," said Conservation Law Foundation senior vice president for law and policy Kate Sinding Daly. "This scientific determination has for years served as the bedrock of our nation’s efforts to curb deadly pollution and safeguard public health and welfare. Taking it away only absolves the EPA of acting on behalf of every family in the country. We won’t let that stand and we’re prepared to take this fight to court to ensure our communities aren’t left to bear the consequences of unchecked climate-warming pollution.” 

“With this action, EPA flips its mission on its head,” said Hana Vizcarra, senior attorney at Earthjustice. “It abandons its core mandate to protect human health and the environment to boost polluting industries and attempts to rewrite the law in order to do so. Earthjustice and our partners will defend what we all know to be true: climate pollution is harming our health, welfare, and economy and the EPA has an obligation to control these harmful emissions.” 

“The Trump administration's reckless decision to rescind the Endangerment Finding and strip the EPA of its primary authority to regulate greenhouse gases will have disastrous consequences for the American people, our health, and our shared future,” said Joanne Spalding, director of the Sierra Club's Environmental Law Program. “In the early 2000s, the Sierra Club brought the first-ever lawsuit seeking federal greenhouse gas standards under the Clean Air Act, and as a result, these protections became a reality. Nearly 25 years later, we're taking Lee Zeldin and Donald Trump's EPA to court because people should not be forced to suffer for this administration's blind allegiance to the fossil fuel industry and corporate polluters. This shortsighted rollback is blatantly unlawful and their efforts to force this upon the American people will fail.” 

“EPA’s mission is to protect human health and the environment,” said Harold Wimmer, president and CEO, American Lung Association. “Repealing the endangerment finding and vehicle emission safeguards weakens important protections against air pollution that harm lung health. On behalf of the millions of people living with lung disease and everyone who breathes, the American Lung Association is committed to upholding the law and protecting public health.”

“As the nonpartisan National Academies stated last fall, the endangerment finding ‘was accurate, has stood the test of time, and is now reinforced by even stronger evidence.’ No amount of legal sophistry from this administration or EPA can evade the well settled statutory requirements and those scientific conclusions,” said Frank Sturges, attorney at Clean Air Task Force (CATF). “The Clean Air Act’s requirements are simple: protect public health and welfare from air pollutants that endanger them. On the law and on the science, greenhouse gases fit that bill. To protect public health and the environment, we will challenge this unlawful action in court, and when the dust settles, we will prevail.” 

“Today’s lawsuit makes clear that we will not idly stand by while EPA blatantly refutes its core mission to protect the environment and public health from dangerous pollution,” said Hallie Templeton, legal director for Friends of the Earth. “The science is overwhelmingly clear that greenhouse gases cause harm, yet the Trump administration has unlawfully chosen to benefit polluters at the planet’s expense. We will keep fighting and holding these bad actors accountable in court for their lawlessness.”