Several states sue Trump administration over ability to regulate greenhouse gases
FILE - Vehicles move along the The New Jersey Turnpike Way while a Factory emits smoke on Nov. 17, 2017 in Carteret, New Jersey. (Photo by Kena Betancur/VIEWpress/Corbis via Getty Images)
Several states are suing the Trump administration after the Environmental Protection Agency rescinded a 2009 scientific conclusion that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on March 19.
What they're saying:
"This is what corruption looks like. Donald Trump is breaking the laws that protect Americans from climate pollution — all to enrich his Big Oil and his wealthy polluting allies. Workers, families, and communities would pay the price, left choking on dirty air. No one is above the law in this country. Not even the president. We’ll fight this lawlessness in court," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a news release regarding the lawsuit.
The states involved in the lawsuit include:
- Massachusetts
- California
- New York
- Connecticut
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Maine
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- Nevada
- North Carolina
- Oregon
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington State
- Wisconsin
- D.C.
EPA rescinds endangerment finding
Trump repeals key EPA greenhouse gas finding
E&E News reporter Jean Chemnick joins LiveNOW's Austin Westfall to break down the Trump administration's decision to repeal an Obama-era key greenhouse gas finding.
The backstory:
The endangerment finding is an Obama-era declaration that was the legal underpinning of nearly all climate regulations under the Clean Air Act.
The act gave way to regulate motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources that are heating the planet.
When it was repealed in February, it eliminated all greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks, but it could unleash a broader undoing of climate regulations on other sources that emit pollutants, such as power plants and oil and gas facilities.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from a lawsuit filed by 24 states on March 19, 2026, suing the Trump administration over rescinding the endangerment finding, a news release from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and previous reporting by The Associated Press and the New York Times. This story was reported from San Jose.