Last month, the Texas Public Policy Foundation took a positive step forward in its lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency, seeking to rescind the 2009 finding that designated greenhouse gas emissions as a danger to human health and welfare. In the case Liberty Packing Company, LLC, et al. v. EPA, TPPF successfully forced the EPA to concede its error by publishing a response to its petition, filed nearly five years ago in 2017.
The endangerment finding of greenhouse gas emissions formed the basis for EPA’s climate change regulatory policy making. TPPF petitioned the EPA to reconsider their finding, arguing that it was legally defective as it was not submitted for review through the Science Advisory Board as required by law. Now that the petition has been successfully responded to, the Foundation can move forward with further litigation on the underlying issues.
“The endangerment finding was never lawfully adopted nor based upon credible data,” said Robert Henneke, Executive Director of TPPF. “TPPF will continue to challenge the flawed climate change policies of the federal government.”
“The federal government works for us and not the other way around,” said Theodore Hadzi-Antich, senior attorney for TPPF’s Center for the American Future. “When EPA unreasonably delayed in responding to our administrative petition, we held EPA’s feet to the fire and it was forced to respond.”
“Federal agencies can’t just issue decrees. They need to show their work,” said Connor Mighell, attorney for the Center for the American Future. “Our continued persistence meant the EPA finally had to do just that.”