Public health, green groups sue EPA over repeal of rule supporting climate protections

WASHINGTON (AP) — A coalition of health and environmental groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, challenging the rescinding of a scientific finding that has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.

A rule finalized by the EPA last week revoked a 2009 government declaration known as the endangerment finding that determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare. The Obama-era finding is the legal underpinning of nearly all climate regulations under the Clean Air Act for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources that are heating the planet.

The repeal eliminates all greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks and could unleash a broader undoing of climate regulations on stationary sources such as power plants and oil and gas facilities, experts say.

The legal challenge, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, asserts that the EPA’s rescission of the endangerment finding is unlawful. The 2009 finding supported common sense safeguards to cut climate pollution, including from cars and trucks, the lawsuit says. Clean vehicle standards imposed by the Biden administration 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 coalition said in filing the case.

After nearly two decades of scientific evidence supporting the 2009 finding, "the agency cannot credibly claim that the body of work is now incorrect,'' said Brian Lynk, a senior attorney at the Environmental Law & Policy Center.

“This reckless and legally untenable decision creates immediate uncertainty for businesses, guarantees prolonged legal battles and undermines the stability of federal climate regulations," Lynk said.

The case was brought by groups including the American Public Health Association, American Lung Association, Alliance of Nurses for a Healthy Environment and Physicians for Social Responsibility, along with environmental groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club.

The suit named EPA and its administrator Lee Zeldin as defendants.

President Donald Trump said in announcing the repeal that it was "the single largest deregulatory action in American history, by far,” while Zeldin called the endangerment finding “the Holy Grail of federal regulatory overreach.”

The endangerment finding “led to trillions of dollars in regulations that strangled entire sectors of the United States economy, including the American auto industry,” Zeldin said. “The Obama and Biden administrations used it to steamroll into existence a left-wing wish list of costly climate policies, electric vehicle mandates and other requirements that assaulted consumer choice and affordability.”

Environmental groups described the move as the single biggest attack in U.S. history against federal authority to address climate change. Evidence backing up the endangerment finding has only grown stronger in the 17 years since it was approved, they said.

Under the Clean Air Act, EPA is legally required to limit emissions of any air pollutant that causes or contributes 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 are “air pollutants” under the Clean Air Act and told EPA to determine, based on the science, if that pollution endangers human health and welfare. EPA made that determination in 2009, which led to new standards for vehicles. It built on that finding when issuing other standards.

The EPA’s own analysis found that eliminating the vehicle standards will increase gas prices and force Americans to spend more on fuel, advocates said.

EPA’s repeal of the endangerment finding, along with the elimination of safeguards to limit vehicle emissions, "marks a complete dereliction of the agency’s mission to protect people’s health and its legal obligations under the Clean Air Act,'' said Gretchen Goldman, president and CEO at the Union of Concerned Scientists, which is part of the suit.

“This shameful and dangerous action ... is rooted in falsehoods, not facts, and is at complete odds with the public interest and the best available science,” Goldman said. 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 world, she said.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse D-R.I., right, speaks to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

FILE - The Kingston Fossil Plant smokestacks rise above the trees behind homes in Kingston, Tenn, Aug. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

Environmental Protection Agency director Lee Zeldin speaks during an event with President Donald Trump to announce the EPA will no longer regulate greenhouse gases, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump speaks during an event with Environmental Protection Agency director Lee Zeldin to announce the EPA will no longer regulate greenhouse gases, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

NEVADA CITY, Calif. (AP) — Crews found the bodies of eight backcountry skiers and are searching for one more who remains missing after an avalanche in the mountains near Lake Tahoe, authorities said Wednesday, making it the deadliest U.S. avalanche in nearly half a century.

Authorities have told the families the mission has moved from rescuing people to recovering bodies, Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said during a news conference.

Six others from the same group of skiers were rescued Tuesday. They were on a guided, three-day trek in Northern California’s Sierra Nevada as a monster winter storm pummeled the West Coast.

“Someone saw the avalanche, yelled avalanche, and it overtook them rather quickly,” said Capt. Russell “Rusty” Greene, of the sheriff’s office.

The bodies of the eight were fairly close together, Greene said. Three of those who died were guides on the trip. The crews have not yet been able to remove the victims from the mountain because of the extreme conditions, the sheriff said.

The avalanche is the deadliest in the U.S. since 1981, when 11 climbers were killed on Mount Rainier, Washington. Each winter, 25 to 30 people die in avalanches in the U.S., according to the National Avalanche Center.

An avalanche in the region killed a snowmobiler in January.

The skiers all had beacons that are able to send signals to rescuers, but it wasn't clear if they were wearing avalanche bags, inflatable devices that can keep skiers near the surface, Greene said.

While they waited to be rescued, the six survivors used equipment to shelter themselves and were trying to stay warm with temperatures dipping below freezing, Moon said. The survivors located three others who had died, Moon said.

Rescuers used a snowcat to get within 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) of the survivors, then skied in carefully so they didn't set off another avalanche, the sheriff said.

One of those rescued remains in a hospital Wednesday, Moon said.

The area near Donner Summit is one of the snowiest places in the Western Hemisphere and until just a few years ago was closed to the public. It sees an average of nearly 35 feet (10 meters) of snow a year, according to the Truckee Donner Land Trust, which owns a cluster of huts where the group was staying near Frog Lake.

The Sierra Avalanche Center warned Wednesday that the risk of avalanche remains high and advised against travel in the area. Multiple feet of snowfall and gale force winds in recent days left the snowpack unstable and unpredictable, and more snow was predicted to fall, the center said.

Greene said authorities were notified about the avalanche by Blackbird Mountain Guides, which was leading the expedition, and the skiers’ emergency beacons. The sheriff’s office said Tuesday night that 15 backcountry skiers had been on the trip, not 16 as initially believed.

The skiers were on the last day of a backcountry skiing trip and had spent two nights in the huts, said Steve Reynaud, an avalanche forecaster with the Sierra Avalanche Center. He said the area requires navigating rugged mountainous terrain. All food and supplies need to be carried to the huts.

Reaching the huts in winter takes several hours and requires backcountry skills, avalanche training and safety equipment, the land trust says on its website. The area near Donner Summit was closed for nearly a century before it was reopened by the land trust and its partners in 2020.

Donner Summit is named for the infamous Donner Party, a group of pioneers who resorted to cannibalism after getting trapped there in the winter of 1846-1847.

Blackbird Mountain Guides said in a statement that the group, including four guides, was returning to the trailhead when the avalanche occurred.

When asked what went through her mind as her staff and volunteers responded to the scene, Moon said she was hoping they would be able to make it there safely. Once they did, she said she was “immediately thinking of the folks that didn’t make it, and knowing our mission now is to get them home.”

Watson reported from San Diego and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu and Olga Rodriguez in San Francisco contributed.

Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon updates media on rescue efforts following an avalanche at a news conference in Nevada City, Calif. on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Tran Nguyen)

A road is cleared during a snow storm on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026 near Soda Springs, Calif. (AP Photo/Brooke Hess-Homeier)

Snow covers a street sign on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026 in Truckee Calif. (AP Photo/Brooke Hess-Homeier)

This image provided by the Nevada County Sheriff's Office shows members of a rescue team in Soda Springs, California on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (Nevada County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Cars are covered in snow during a snow storm on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 in Truckee Calif. (AP Photos/Brooke Hess-Homeier)

Trucks are lined up along Interstate 80 during a storm on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 in Truckee Calif. (AP Photos/Brooke Hess-Homeier)

A vehicle is buried in snow during a storm on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 in Truckee Calif. (AP Photos/Brooke Hess-Homeier)

A road is plowed during a snow storm on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 in Truckee Calif. (AP Photos/Brooke Hess-Homeier)

This image provided by the Nevada County Sheriff's Office shows members of a rescue team in Soda Springs, California on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (Nevada County Sheriff's Office via AP)