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Days after finalizing a rule that would eliminate climate rules for power plants , the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was sued by groups who say the EPA’s repeal was shockingly short-sighted and risked leaving the country’s single largest source of industrial climate pollution unchecked. On Thursday, the American Lung Association, the American Public Health Association (APHA), the Clean Air Council, Clean Wisconsin, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed a petition requesting that the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit review if the EPA’s action conflicts with the Clean Air Act. “Clean air is a basic human right,” APHA CEO Georges C. Benjamin said. Read full article Comments

Days after finalizing a rule that would eliminate climate rules for power plants , the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was sued by groups who say the EPA’s repeal was shockingly short-sighted and risked leaving the country’s single largest source of industrial climate pollution unchecked.

On Thursday, the American Lung Association, the American Public Health Association (APHA), the Clean Air Council, Clean Wisconsin, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed a petition requesting that the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit review if the EPA’s action conflicts with the Clean Air Act.

Public health groups warn EPA rule will cost Americans billions in health bills.

A physician and long-time public health policy leader, Benjamin warned that the EPA was “weakening” “life-saving standards” and stripping away “vital protections for all, and especially for children, pregnant people and communities already overburdened by pollution.” The petition alleges that the rule change could cause thousands of premature deaths.

In the EPA’s announcement of the proposed repeal, the agency claimed that its action was based on “the best reading of the Clean Air Act.” Benjamin disagrees.