Washington, D.C. – Service and care workers are challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s move to weaken federal climate protections, filing a petition in federal court today to block the rollback of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Endangerment Finding, the legal basis for limiting climate pollution under the Clean Air Act.
The petition, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by Democracy Forward on behalf of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), argues that rescinding the Endangerment Finding ignores overwhelming scientific evidence and threatens the health and safety of communities across the country.
SEIU represents two million workers across the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico in health care, public services, and property services.
“As hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and extreme heat intensify, working people are the ones paying the price with higher bills and worsening health,” said SEIU Secretary Treasurer Rocío Sáenz. “Deregulating pollution only lets corporations off the hook. That’s why SEIU is challenging the rollback of the EPA’s Endangerment Finding.”
“The Trump-Vance administration’s policy of rejecting clear science-based conclusions to score political points with corporate interests threatens the health and safety of people throughout the nation,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “The fight for democracy is the fight for people, and rescinding the Endangerment Finding to roll back vital standards puts the financial interests of polluters over the health and safety of people in neighborhoods everywhere. We are honored to represent millions of workers as we join climate leaders throughout the nation to fight back against this anti-democratic and harmful effort.”
The challenge relates to a 2007 Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, which found that the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to limit vehicle emissions of any air pollutants, including carbon dioxide and other climate-change causing greenhouse gases, that “cause, or contribute to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare”. The unlawful rescission of the Endangerment Finding ignores law already settled by the Supreme Court and threatens to undermine efforts and regulations throughout the nation that are helping reduce pollution and reduce the cost of fuel for consumers.
The SEIU challenge adds the voices of working people to an already large and broad coalition of health and environmental groups fighting the unlawful endangerment finding rescission. The American Public Health Association, American Lung Association, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, Clean Wisconsin, Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, Clean Air Council, Friends of the Earth, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Rio Grande International Study Center, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Natural Resources Defense Council, Public Citizen, and Sierra Club also submitted a petition over the EPA’s reversal of the endangerment finding.
The Clean Air Act allows for petitioners to file this case directly in the court of appeals. The legal team at Democracy Forward on this case includes Tsuki Hoshijima and Elena Goldstein.
Read the petition filed today here.
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Democracy Forward Foundation is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.
