The action taken in a Washington appeals court argues that Republican President Donald Trump’s move – which eliminated greenhouse gas standards on automobiles and placed a host of additional rules in jeopardy – was illegal.
The 2009 “endangerment finding” said that greenhouse gases harm public health, and was core to decades of federal climate policy.
Its rollback was broadly condemned by environmental groups and many Democrats, and legal action was expected.
The case was brought by a broad coalition of groups including the American Lung Association, the Clean Air Council, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Sierra Club and the Centre for Biological Diversity.
“We’re suing to stop Trump from torching our kids’ future in favour of a monster handout to oil companies,” said David Pettit, an attorney at the Centre for Biological Diversity, in a statement.
“Nobody but Big Oil profits from Trump trashing climate science and making cars and trucks guzzle and pollute more. Consumers will pay more to fill up, and our skies and oceans will fill up with more pollution. The EPA’s rollbacks are based on political poppycock, not science or law, and the courts should see it that way.”