By KAMDEN MULDER
Excerpt: Liberal climate action groups are suing the Trump administration in the name of radical climate justice over the Environmental Protection Agency’s plans to revoke the Obama-era greenhouse gas policy known as Endangerment Finding.
The Endangerment Finding policy, implemented in 2009, declared that six greenhouse gases pose a threat to public welfare and, under the Clean Air Act, allows the government to regulate emissions from ventures such as cars and power plants.
“With this proposal, the Trump EPA is proposing to end sixteen years of uncertainty for automakers and American consumers,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement. “If finalized, rescinding the Endangerment Finding and resulting regulations would end $1 trillion or more in hidden taxes on American businesses and families.”
The two groups suing the administration — the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) — have a long history of trying to tear down the fossil fuel industry.
UCS joined with the EDF to bring a lawsuit against the Trump administration, which alleges the “causes of climate change and the resulting harms to millions of people are among the most important scientific issues that federal policymakers have ever confronted.”
The groups claim the Trump administration relied on a “secretively convened group of climate skeptics to prepare a now widely disparaged report in its attempt to undo the Endangerment Finding.”
It’s little surprise that the groups have launched a legal challenge against the administration’s decision. The UCS was central in coordinating the 2012 La Jolla workshop, which sought to bankrupt the fossil fuel industry in the United States.
At the meeting, organized by UCS and the Climate Accountability Institute, activists sought to understand the shift in public opinion around the tobacco industry in order to then implement the same playbook to influence climate-change policy.
…
UCS has also long pushed the narrative that fossil fuel companies are deceitful, and has used its research to bring never-ending lawsuits against companies like ExxonMobil and Chevron, citing alleged “deceptive practices and potential fraud.”
“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, America is returning to free and open dialogue around climate and energy policy — driving the focus back to following the data,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in a press release. “Today’s announcement is a monumental step toward returning to commonsense policies that expand access to affordable, reliable, secure energy and improve quality of life for all Americans.”
