CHICAGO – Attorney General Kwame Raoul today issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final rule rescinding the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which determined that greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles contribute to air pollution that is the root cause of climate change and endangers the public’s health and welfare.
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“Rescinding this finding will undo progress we have made to address climate change by eliminating existing EPA greenhouse gas emission standards for vehicles and undermining the EPA’s mandate to regulate harmful air pollution that causes climate change,” Raoul said. “I will continue to push back and defend science-backed emission standards that protect the environment and our health.”
Raoul explained the EPA’s rescission of the Endangerment Finding rests on the flawed assertion, which is contrary to Supreme Court precedent, that it lacks legal authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The rescission also ignores longstanding scientific evidence that greenhouse gases cause climate change, endangering the public’s health and welfare. The rule eliminates existing and future federal greenhouse gas standards for vehicles, violating the agency’s legal obligations and fundamental responsibility to protect the public’s health and welfare from environmental harm.
The 2009 Endangerment Finding was the direct result of the landmark 2007 Supreme Court opinion in Massachusetts v. EPA, won by Illinois and its partner states. The ruling confirmed the EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions that threaten the public’s health and welfare. After more than two years of scientific review, the EPA determined that greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles contribute to air pollution that harms the public’s health and welfare. The agency then set standards to limit motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.
Raoul joined a coalition in September 2025 in submitting two comment letters urging the EPA to abandon the proposal, arguing that it would violate settled law, clear Supreme Court precedent, and scientific consensus; endanger hundreds of millions of Americans, particularly communities disproportionately burdened by environmental harms; and disrupt the regulatory landscape with catastrophic consequences for residents, industries, natural resources and public investments. The comment letter highlighted the illegality of the proposed recission, the agency’s reliance on flawed and unscientific sources to deny climate change, and its failure to acknowledge climate impacts on everyday life.
