Climate groups sue Trump administration over EPA's bombshell deregulation decision

Climate activist groups sued President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday in an effort to block officials from undercutting environmental regulations.

The lawsuit targets the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to revoke an Obama-era "endangerment finding" that serves as the underpinning for sweeping climate regulations. The finding, which the administration announced plans to revoke last week, asserted that pollution and climate change constitute harm to the American people. The lawsuit names the EPA and its administrator, Lee Zeldin, as plaintiffs.

"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," said Gretchen Goldman, president and CEO at the Union of Concerned Scientists, one of the groups behind the lawsuit. 

"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," Goldman added.

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Nearly 20 groups signed on to the lawsuit, including the American Public Health Association, American Lung Association, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and others.

The EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

The 2009 "endangerment finding" identified six greenhouse gases that the Obama administration said pose "a threat to public health and welfare." That harm finding was used to justify climate regulations from the EPA such as raising fuel economy standards and limiting power plant emissions.

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Zeldin hailed the move as cutting through government red tape in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last week.

"This amounts to the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States," Zeldin said.

Trump held an event at the White House last week with Zeldin and Energy Secretary Chris Wright. There they announced a new initiative for the Department of War to purchase electricity from coal-powered plants.

The Washington Coal Club also named Trump the "Undisputed Champion of Coal" during the event.

Trump has been consistently critical of global warming claims and climate regulation throughout both of his terms in office, famously withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement when he first took office in 2017.