Attorney General James Leads Challenge to Trump Administration’s Climate Rollback

March 19, 2026

NEW YORK - New York Attorney General Letitia James today released the following statement after co-leading a coalition of 39 other states, counties, and cities in filing a petition challenging the Trump administration's repeal of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2009 endangerment finding, which served as a cornerstone of the United States' efforts to combat climate change:

"Across our country, communities are already suffering from climate disasters. From freak storms to devastating floods to deadly cold snaps and unbearable heat waves, the climate crisis is here, and it is already reshaping the way we live.

"Instead of helping Americans face our new reality, the Trump administration has chosen denial, repealing critical protections that are foundational to the federal government's response to climate change.

"Today, I am leading a coalition of cities, counties, and states from across the country to fight back. The American people need their leaders to be honest and pragmatic about the threat of the climate crisis. We will not let the federal government abandon its responsibility to the people."

Attorney General James previously led a coalition of attorneys general, counties, and cities in a series of actions opposing the proposed rollback. Despite these objections, the EPA moved forward with the plan and, in late February 2026, officially rescinded the endangerment finding, which had established that greenhouse gas emissions drive climate change and pose a threat to public health and welfare. The administration has also repealed all federal greenhouse gas emissions standards for motor vehicles, claiming that because the endangerment finding has been rescinded, there is no longer any legal justification for regulating those emissions.

Today, Attorney General James and the coalition filed a petition for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, challenging the repeal and arguing that it contradicts the overwhelming scientific evidence of the continued threat posed by climate change. The coalition also argues that the legal justification for the repeal cannot be squared with the agency's statutory requirements under the Clean Air Act, and that the Trump administration is attempting to rehash arguments already considered and settled by the Supreme Court in 2007.

The coalition is asking the D.C. Circuit to reinstate the endangerment finding by vacating the administration's rescission.

Attorney General James co-led this petition with the attorneys general of Massachusetts, California, and Connecticut. Joining these attorneys general in filing the petition are the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia, and the United States Virgin Islands, as well as the cities of Albuquerque, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, the counties of Denver, Colorado; Harris, Texas; Martin Luther King, Jr., Washington; San Francisco, California; and Santa Clara, California; and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.