EDF, NRDC Appeal Court Decision Related to Trump’s Proposed Clean Car Standards Rollback

(Washington, D.C. – September 10, 2019) Environmental Defense Fund and Natural Resources Defense Council are appealing a recent court ruling that the Trump administration does not have to disclose important information that may refute the administration’s flawed justification for rolling back America’s Clean Car Standards.

The groups are asking the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to reconsider a case regarding technical analysis that may weaken the administration’s argument for a rollback – analysis that EPA has tried to bury.

“Trump’s EPA is hiding from the public key data about the true costs of a Clean Car Standards rollback. We will continue to fight for Americans’ right to important public health and safety information,” said EDF senior attorney Martha Roberts.

“The Trump administration’s plan to halt progress on cutting vehicle pollution is bad for our air quality, bad for our climate and bad for our pocketbooks,” said Pete Huffman, a lawyer for NRDC. “By refusing to release its model, EPA is denying the public access to facts about just how unsupportable this proposal really is. That’s unacceptable for a public health agency.”

The Clean Car Standards reduce pollution while saving Americans hard-earned money at the gas pump. The Trump administration is proposing to roll back the standards and instead require zero progress in reducing climate pollution from cars, SUVs and passenger trucks over the next six years.

Trump’s EPA is also refusing to let the public see the latest OMEGA model – a long used computer model to assess clean car protections that EPA previously made public as a matter of course. EPA records indicate the latest version of the OMEGA model would show the current Clean Car Standards can be achieved by automakers at a substantially lower cost than alleged by the administration.

EDF and NRDC filed a lawsuit after EPA failed to release information about the latest OMEGA model under the Freedom of Information Act. In August, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York declined to require EPA to disclose those records. The groups filed a notice of appeal last night.