Texas v. EPA

Public Citizen is part of a coalition of environmental and consumer NGOs supporting EPA’s promulgation of strong automobile greenhouse gas emissions standards. During the Trump Administration, EPA rolled back standards that had been issued in in the Obama Administration. When the Biden Administration took office, it initiated a review of the standards, and in December 2021, EPA issued new standards that reversed most of the Trump rollbacks. Following EPA’s issuance of the new greenhouse gas emissions standards, a group of states led by Texas filed a petition in the D.C. Circuit challenging EPA’s new standards; some industry and advocacy groups that oppose strong climate regulation also filed petitions.

Together with the same coalition of NGOs that challenged the Trump Administration’s actions, we intervened to defend the Biden Administration’s standards. In a joint brief with the State of California and other states and local governments, the NGO coalition argued that the emissions standards reflect longstanding regulatory approaches that are fully consistent with the relevant provisions of the Clean Air Act and do not implicate the “major questions doctrine.” The case will be argued in September 2023.