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California will co-lead a coalition to challenge a recent decision by President Donald Trump’s administration to revoke the Environmental Protection Agency‘s landmark climate findings that target greenhouse gases.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on March 19 that California — along with 25 attorneys general, the Pennsylvania governor and 10 cities and counties — filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration regarding its recent decision to repeal the EPA’s “endangerment finding”, which has been the legal foundation for regulations targeting man-made greenhouse gases for nearly the last two decades.

“We’re challenging the Trump administration’s unlawful decision to roll back one of the most important climate protections in our country,” Bonta said during a press conference. “The federal government is trying to overrule science and do away with the protection that limits harmful pollution from vehicles. The largest source of greenhouse gases in the United States.”

In 2009, the Obama administration’s EPA released its “Endangerment Findings,” which concluded that six greenhouse gases significantly threaten public health and contribute to worsening environmental conditions. These findings served as the basis for passing the Clean Air Act, which imposed emission standards on cars, trucks and power plants.

In announcing the decision, Trump claimed that revoking these environmental protections would ultimately help Americans by making vehicle costs start “tumbling down” and that the findings had no “basis in fact.”

“We are officially terminating the so-called “endangerment finding,” a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry,” Trump said on Feb. 12.

The president described this moment as “the single largest deregulatory action in American history.”

The EPA’s action to revoke the 2009 finding ultimately eliminates the federal government’s ability to enforce environmental protections against greenhouse gas pollution from cars and trucks.

“This isn’t a small technical change. It’s a sweeping decision that would increase pollution, worsen climate change and put the health of millions of Americans at risk,” Bonta said during a press conference.

“We’re going to see greenhouse gas emissions as the federal government attempts to retreat from its role to regulate them appropriately.”

Newsom: Trump’s decision will hurt America, boost China’s EVs

When Trump announced the decision to revoke the EPA’s findings, Newsom vowed to sue. This week, he didn’t hold back his criticism of the president’s actions.

“Since 2009, we have recognized the obvious. Greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (and) methane are contributing in a deleterious way to our public health and economic prosperity of this nation,” Newsom said. “Only Donald Trump and his big donors can see it differently.”

Newsom said prior to the creation of the EPA and policies addressing smog and pollution in the state, greenhouse gases played a significant role in the bad air conditions that affected Californians for decades.

“Los Angeles was almost unlivable; that can happen again,” Newsom said. “They want to make pollution great again, that’s what this is about.”

He also highlighted that the deregulation of the EPA and looser policies on greenhouse gas emissions could hurt modern-day Californians, as the state has faced a growing number of natural disasters due to climate change.

“They want to recreate the 19th century. California is about the future; we’re about transformation, not restoration, not nostalgia. Not doubling down on stupid,” Newsom said. “We’ve been here before, but our action is to try to shape the future and not be victims and bystanders to this assault on common sense, on science, on public health and on lived reality.”

Notably, California’s Secretary for Environmental Protection Yana Garcia said that although Trump’s decision affected federal policy, it doesn’t affect the state’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2006, the California General Assembly passed AB 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which required companies to participate in sharply reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the state to 1990 levels by 2020.

“AB 32 remains unchanged,” Garcia said. “The California Air Resources Board, we are driving forward with our climate programs. We remain firmly committed to protecting public health.”

One of Trump’s main reasons for justifying the repeal of the EPA’s findings was that it would help the American automotive industry by removing federal regulations.

Newsom argued this decision may ultimately hurt the American auto market, as the federal government has disincentivized U.S. automakers from developing electric vehicles in favor of gasoline-powered cars.

In contrast, Newsom pointed to the Chinese government’s investment in its electric vehicle industry, which has become a major player in the global market, and noted that America is “being left in the dust.”

Earlier this year, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney agreed to a plan with China to begin importing EVs into the North American market, which had been held back for many years by a tariff agreement with the United States.

Newsom’s vows to sue: Trump’s EPA repeals findings on greenhouse gases

Noe Padilla is a Northern California Reporter for USA Today. Contact him at npadilla@usatodayco.com, follow him on X @1NoePadilla or on Bluesky @noepadilla.bsky.social.