Pennsylvania, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Partners File Lawsuits Against EPA For Rolling Back Clean Car Standards

On May 27, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and 11 partner organizations and a separate coalition, including five of the six watershed states-- Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania [Attorney General Shapiro], and Virginia and the District of Columbia-- filed parallel lawsuits against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for rolling back clean car fuel economy standards.

The groups said the Trump Administration's rule is based on massive technical and economic errors and fails to meet core legal requirements.

The Chesapeake Bay region is already grappling with the economic, environmental, and social costs of climate change effects such as sea level rise, warming waters, coastal erosion and flooding, and more frequent and intense storms. 

Sea level has increased significantly in Baltimore and Norfolk. In Maryland alone, rising waters could destroy more than 61,000 homes-- valued at $19 million-- by 2100. Allowing carbon dioxide emissions to rise will only exacerbate the hardships the watershed’s ecosystem and its 18 million people face due to climate change.

In addition, roughly one-third of nitrogen pollution in the Bay comes from the air, much of it in the form of nitrogen oxides released from auto exhaust and power plants. The Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint includes a specific goal to curb emissions because EPA recognized the critical importance of limiting air pollution to restoring the Bay. 

The watershed’s six states and the District of Columbia must cut nitrogen significantly under the Blueprint.

The groups joining the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to file lawsuits are: Center for Biological Diversity, Communities for a Better Environment, Conservation Law Foundation, Consumer Federation of America, Environment America, Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Public Citizen, Inc., Sierra Club and Union of Concerned Scientists.

For more on Chesapeake Bay-related issues in Pennsylvania, visit the Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA webpage.  Click Here to sign up for Pennsylvania updates (bottom of left column).  Click Here to support their work.

Also visit the Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership to learn how you can help clean water grow on trees.

Related Article:

Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Other States Give Notice To EPA Of Intent To Sue Over Failure To Hold PA, NY Accountable For Meeting Bay Cleanup Milestones

[Posted: May 27, 2020]  PA Environment Digest