WASHINGTON—Undaunted by defeats in the courts—including the Republican-named majority on the U.S. Supreme Court—the kids and teens who launched a novel lawsuit a decade ago to force the federal government to combat climate change, and to curb fossil fuels, are trying again.
But this time they face a double threat: Not only has the right-wing Trump regime catered to its fossil fuel campaign contributors—notably coal companies and Big Oil—but Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency chief, former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., just cancelled the union contracts protecting his workers.
And that angers the BlueGreen Alliance, the joint union-green coalition the Steelworkers co-founded, since yanking the pacts leaves remaining EPA workers open to political pressure and outright retaliation should they try to stand up to Trump.
The Environment and Energy Reporter revealed on July 23 that a coalition of green groups, with the lawyers for the kids in the lead, are challenging Trump’s executive orders wrecking U.S. efforts to combat climate change and global warming.
As examples, Trump directed the Interior Department to lease thousands of square miles off U.S. coasts for oil drilling, end federal support for wind and solar energy, stop research on capturing carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, and to roll back all the emissions curbs envisioned in Biden era legislation.
Trump even wants to eliminate the special waiver, which has existed for decades, letting California, which has one-eighth of the U.S. population and an even higher proportion of its motor vehicles, set its own tougher emissions standards and miles-per-gallon goals for cars, trucks, and SUVs.
And California is such a huge market that the automakers, including the Detroit 3 of Ford, GM, and Stellantis—formerly FiatChrysler—follow them for the whole country.
Trump, in an obvious quid pro quo after his closed-door meeting with fossil fuel CEOs during 2024 presidential campaign, lobbied them for a billion dollars in campaign contributions in return for axing all federal rules.
Our Children’s Trust—the lawyers for the teens and kids—and the other green groups want a reversal of that and restoration of the federal role in combatting climate change.
“Our Children’s Trust seeks to enjoin these [executive] orders from taking effect because of their potential impact on climate change in the youths’ future.”
That was the same argument Our Children’s Trust advanced a decade ago, arguing that promoting fossil fuels and not combatting global warming violates the kids’ and teens’ constitutional right to growing up in a healthy environment, promised by the Constitution’s mandate the government “promote the general welfare.”
But after an initial splash in announcing their lawsuit in Helena, Mont., in 2015, the kids and teens suffered a series of judicial reversals. Courts said they didn’t have “standing” to sue, or the forecast impact on the kids’ future lives was speculative, or the whole question of what to do about fossil fuels, greenhouse gases and global warming is a question legislators, not courts, must solve.
The final setback of the original suit occurred this past March 25 when the current Supreme Court, whose six GOP-named justices include three Trump appointees, denied Our Children’s Trust a chance to argue their case.
Our Children’s Trust and its green allies “again argue that not only has climate change caused constitutional violations” to their rights, but also that Trump’s executive orders have no legal authority. The U.S. District Court in deep-red Montana will again hear the case, on September 16-17, because the Big Sky State has a strong state constitutional provision mandating air and water protection.
“There is no national energy emergency and these executive actions are forcing agencies to neglect their statutory obligations, such as the Environmental Protection Agency’s obligation to regulate air pollution under the Clean Air Act,” they said. In mid-July, Trump’s Justice Department filed a brief in the Montana court. It argued this lawsuit should be thrown out for the same reasons judges tossed the prior one.
But even if the kids and teens win on the merits this time, they face another hurdle, especially at the EPA. First Zeldin gutted the agency’s personnel, especially its scientists, and now—again under Trump’s orders—he’s gutted its union contracts.
Which, as BlueGreen Alliance Executive Vice President Eric Steen pointed out, leaves EPA workers vulnerable if they try to enforce the law. There may be nobody there courageous enough to do so.
“The dedicated public servants at the EPA protect the health of all of us and the environment every day,” Steen stated. “This latest attack would strip them of their fundamental First Amendment right to be in a union and collectively bargain.
“Unions give working people a strong voice, collective might, and the ability to build a movement to fight back against attacks from the rich and powerful. That is why they are always among the first targets of authoritarians like Donald Trump. We stand with the union workers at the EPA who will fight this egregious overreach of power every step of the way.”
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