Young Americans demand court halt Trump's biggest rollbacks of pollution protections
Source: The Guardian
Wed 20 May 2026 16.04 EDT
Last modified on Wed 20 May 2026 18.37 EDT
Eighteen American youth are demanding that a court immediately halt the Trump administration’s repeal of the scientific finding underpinning virtually all US climate regulations. The plaintiffs sued the Trump administration in February days after officials revoked the 2009 endangerment finding, which found that greenhouse gas pollution threatens public health and welfare. Filed in the Washington DC circuit court of appeals Venner v EPA alleges that the move infringes upon rights guaranteed by the US constitution, including to religious freedom, life and liberty.
“My faith has taught me to protect and nurture all children, all life, all creation,” said Elena Venner, the 21-year-old named plaintiff in the case. “With these repeals, the conditions for life are not being protected.”. The rule must be halted urgently, says a motion for a stay filed on Wednesday, and shared with the Guardian, because it is already causing damage: car companies are already changing their business plans to lock in more gas-powered vehicles, it says.
The filing also asks the court to immediately halt the repeal of annual motor vehicle greenhouse gas standards, which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the day it rolled back the endangerment finding. In the time it could take for their lawsuit to wind through the courts, the filing says, the rescissions may result in an additional gigaton of additional planet-warming C02 pollution – more than Japan’s total emissions in one year. That figure is based on EPA’s 2024 calculations of pollution cuts attributable to the regulations each year.
“The increased exposure to all of the pollutants that will result from this rule can’t be undone,” said Julia Olson, the founder and chief legal counsel for Our Children’s Trust, the non-profit law firm behind the lawsuit. “The harm to the petitioners is irreversible.”. The White House and EPA both declined to comment.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/20/trump-administration-climate-pollution-lawsuit
Link to FILING (PDF not available yet at post time) - https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72292285/american-public-health-association-v-epa/#entry-1208851832
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