A group of 18 California children – ranging in ages from 8 to 17 – has filed a new constitutional climate case in federal court against the US Environmental Protection Agency, alleging it has harmed children’s health and welfare over decades.
The case, Genesis B. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, alleges the EPA “intentionally allows” planet warming pollution to come from the sources it regulates, such as vehicles and heavy-duty trucks, power plants, and oil and gas wells. It follows the first constitutional climate case in the US, which youth plaintiffs successfully tried in Montana earlier this year.
The case further alleges the agency allows this pollution “despite knowing the harm it causes to children’s health and welfare.” The case was filed Sunday night in US District Court in the Central District of California.
“There is one federal agency explicitly tasked with keeping the air clean and controlling pollution to protect the health of every child and the welfare of a nation—the EPA,” said Julia Olson, chief legal counsel for Our Children’s Trust, in a statement. “The agency has done the opposite when it comes to climate pollution and it’s time the EPA is held accountable by our courts for violating the US Constitution and misappropriating its congressionally delegated authority.”
The defendants in the case include current EPA Administrator Michael Regan. Regan is presiding over a period of the EPA aggressively attempting to rein in planet-warming pollution from vehicles, power plants and the oil and gas industry.
EPA spokesperson Timothy Carroll said in a statement that the agency can’t comment on the lawsuit as it is pending litigation, but reiterated the agency’s commitment to crafting regulations “with the urgency that the climate crisis demands.”
“EPA is committed to using the full…
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