Attorney General Ellison sues to block EPA’s illegal rollback of landmark finding that greenhouse gases drive climate change, harm public health

Coalition of states, cities, and counties across the country mount lawsuit against EPA’s unlawful rescission of landmark, science-based 2009 determination that has led to significant reductions in GHGs

Minnesota has already put solutions in place to address the many impacts of climate change on our state; EPA rollback hinders those solutions

March 19, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison today joined a coalition of 38 states, territories, cities, and counties in filing a lawsuit to challenge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s unlawful attempt to rescind its 2009 Endangerment Finding — the agency’s seminal determination that greenhouse gas pollution from motor vehicles drives climate change and endangers public health and welfare.

"Minnesota leaders are making progress towards curbing the pollution that leads to climate change, and I will not allow the Trump administration to interfere with that important work. While we work responsibly to meet Minnesotans’ needs and expectations, the Trump Administration continues to contradict settled science and settled law in its ongoing work to make Americans less healthy so billionaires can be more wealthy,” Attorney General Ellison said. “It’s established scientific fact that greenhouse gases from motor vehicles drive climate change and harm the health of people and communities. It’s Supreme Court precedent that EPA can regulate those greenhouse gases. Because the Trump Administration is not free to ignore the law and its duty to protect public health, I’m taking them to court.”

The 2009 Endangerment Finding was the direct result of the landmark 2007 Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, which confirmed that the Clean Air Act authorizes EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions that endanger public health and welfare. Based on years of rigorous scientific analysis and review, EPA determined in 2009 that emissions from motor vehicles contribute to air pollution that harms public health and the environment. EPA then set federal standards to limit those emissions, which have led to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles.

Now under the Trump Administration, EPA has rushed a rulemaking process to rescind the Endangerment Finding and repeal all motor vehicles greenhouse gas standards, blatantly disregarding the law and science. EPA’s rescission is based on flawed interpretations of the law — previously rejected by the Supreme Court — that the agency lacks authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The rescission also ignores decades of peer-reviewed scientific evidence confirming the reality and severity of climate change. By eliminating all existing and future federal vehicle greenhouse gas emission standards, the rule violates EPA’s legal obligations, fundamental principles of administrative law, and its mission to protect public health and welfare.

Impacts of climate change on Minnesota

Minnesota’s climate is rapidly changing; temperatures are rising dramatically, especially in winter; we experience heavier downpours and flooding; we also have increased summer heat and the potential for longer dry spells that lead to drought. These changes threaten Minnesota’s environment, economy, and communities. 

Many of our state’s iconic native plants and animals — from birch trees to walleye — are threatened by warming temperatures and shifting weather patterns. Minnesota, an agricultural state, has been impacted by significant drought since 2021, despite also experiencing severe rain and flooding events. Record-breaking floods damage streets, wastewater facilities, businesses, homes, farms, and natural resources.

Over the past four decades, Minnesota has averaged about 1.4 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters per year — but in just the last five years, that average has spiked to 4.6 annually. Climate change not only increases the occurrence of billion-dollar disasters, but hurts Minnesota’s tourism economy, especially for small businesses who participate in our winter recreation economy. Climate change is costing the state and our citizens.

Climate change also disproportionately harms the most vulnerable in Minnesota, including the very old and very young, people of color, and people with health issues, disabilities, economic vulnerability, outdoor occupations, disproportionate exposure to environmental pollution, and cultural/language barriers.

In response, Minnesota has intentionally put solutions in place to address climate change, such as passing laws establishing a Minnesota carbon-free electricity standard and other ambitious climate targets. The EPA’s rescission of the endangerment finding and GHG emissions standards hinders those solutions.

More specifics about the impacts of climate change on Minnesota are available on pp. 68-73 of the appendix to a September 2025 comment letter that Attorney General Ellison and others submitted to the EPA in opposition to the rescission.

Latest step in continued efforts to fight rollback of Endangerment Finding

Today’s lawsuit is the latest action that Attorney General Ellison and the coalition have taken in their ongoing effort to fight the EPA’s unlawful rescission of the 2009 Endangerment Finding. In the fall of 2025, Attorney General Ellison and a coalition of attorneys general and chief legal officers of cities and counties submitted two comment letters urging EPA to abandon the proposal, arguing that it would violate settled law, contradict Supreme Court precedent, and scientific consensus, endanger hundreds of millions of Americans — particularly communities disproportionately burdened by environmental harms — and cause unprecedented disruption to the regulatory landscape with catastrophic consequences for residents, industries, natural resources, and public investments.

Joining Attorney General Ellison in filing today’s lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York, who led the lawsuit, and the attorneys general of: Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia, and the United States Virgin Islands; Josh Shapiro, in his official capacity as Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and the Cities of Albuquerque, New Mexico; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Los Angeles, California; and New York, New York; the Counties of Harris, Texas; Martin Luther King, Jr., Washington; and Santa Clara, California; and the Cities and Counties of Denver, Colorado, and San Francisco, California.