Federal Court Hears Arguments about Secret Report that Trump Administration Used in Attack on Climate Protections

(September 11, 2025) Environmental Defense Fund and the Union of Concerned Scientists went to court today to argue that a federal district court should swiftly block the Trump administration's use of an unlawfully created "science" report from a secretly convened group of climate contrarians.

That report is at the center of the Trump administration's attempt to undo EPA's Endangerment Finding - the determination, based on mountains of scientific evidence, that climate pollution harms people's health and well-being. Americans are already suffering from the real-world impacts of climate change including worsening flooding, fires and heat waves and rising insurance costs.

"The Climate Working Group was convened in secrecy, and it created a clandestine report - in brazen violation of federal law - that is being used to weaken protections against the climate pollution that makes life less safe and less affordable for all Americans," said EDF Senior Attorney Erin Murphy. "The report is filled with inaccuracies and misrepresentations about climate change. Scientists whose work is cited in the report have publicly denounced it, and at EDF our scientists found it to be irredeemably flawed. Allowing the Trump administration to continue using the report to prop up its attacks on climate protections would be a travesty of justice and would increase risks for millions of people."

"We made a compelling argument today urging the courts to affirm what we have said from the beginning: this sham report was drafted through a process that violates the law," said UCS President and CEO Dr. Gretchen Goldman. "It can hardly be a coincidence that DOE Secretary Wright purportedly shut down the secretive Climate Working Group on the eve of responding to our lawsuit. This illegally created report is not scientifically credible and shouldn't be used in EPA's efforts to repeal the Endangerment Finding. People's lives and well-being are at stake."

Earlier this year, Trump Secretary of Energy Christopher Wright quietly arranged for five hand-picked climate action opponents to form a "Climate Working Group" and tasked them with writing a report challenging the mountain of evidence that shows climate change is a threat to human health and well-being. That report was held secret from the public until July, when it was unveiled as a cornerstone of Trump EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin's proposal to eliminate the Endangerment Finding - EPA's scientific determination, based on that mountain of evidence, that climate pollution harms current and future generations. Zeldin's proposal relies extensively on the Climate Working Group report, citing it 22 times.

The Climate Working Group's report has been denounced by scientists whose research it cites for using scientific data inaccurately and fundamentally misrepresenting many of their findings. More than 85 scientists issued a scathing rebuttal to the report. Scientists at EDF also filed comments with the Department of Energy further detailing the numerous, severe, and pervasive problems with the Climate Working Group report.

EDF and the Union of Concerned Scientists filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts challenging the Trump administration's use of the report and asked the court for a preliminary injunction. Arguments took place today and we await further court action.

Then a few days ago, the Trump administration filed a letter and affidavit with the court saying the Climate Working Group had been disbanded, and arguing that made the lawsuit moot. EDF and UCS pushed back against that spurious argument in a brief filed yesterday and in arguments in court today:

"For months, [the Trump administration] brazenly violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act. They constituted the Climate Working Group … in secret, had it meet in secret to produce a report with advice and recommendations for policymakers, and then provided the report to EPA in secret for use in a proposal to rescind EPA's Endangerment Finding …

"Defendants present no serious argument that they did not violate [the law] in taking all of these actions. Instead, when these actions were challenged in court, Defendants purported to dissolve the [Climate Working Group] the day before their opposition was due, and in their filing the next day, they argued that the dissolution mooted the case …. But the rule of law is not a game of catch me if you can …

"It would make a mockery of … the rule of law to allow DOE to secretly create and operate the CWG … and then have free rein to use the committee's work product because DOE kept its legal violations secret for long enough." (EDF and UCS reply brief)

EDF and UCS are asking the court to preliminarily enjoin the unlawful actions in establishing, operating, and utilizing the Climate Working Group, to order the Group to disclose all records as required by law, to enjoin operation by the Group unless and until they comply with federal law, and to stop the Trump administration from using the Group's unlawfully produced report.