Energy producers join lawsuit supporting repeal of EPA’s 2009 greenhouse gas rule

Washington, DC; March 19, 2026: A group of energy producers filed a motion today to join a lawsuit to support the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to repeal its 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding. The Domestic Energy Producers Alliance (DEPA) argues that the EPA exceeded its statutory authority and wrongly exercised legislative power by adopting the 2009 endangerment finding. For these reasons, they argue that the Court should affirm the agency’s repeal.

“The EPA made the right call by reversing course and repealing the endangerment finding,” said Frank Garrison, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, who is representing the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance with co-counsel, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). “The EPA never had the authority to issue the finding in the first place. It violated the separation of powers and cued a catastrophic regulatory cascade that cost over a trillion dollars. Restoring constitutional limits on agency power is essential to an abundance‑oriented energy policy—one that encourages innovation, affordability, and reliable domestic energy production for all Americans. The courts should affirm the agency’s decision to repeal.”

“DEPA’s members are the American oil and natural gas producers who shouldered the compliance costs of the endangerment finding. Energy is an indispensable part of modern life, and the American people—due to the harm to American oil and gas producers—would be burdened by high costs if the court overturns EPA’s revised interpretation of its authority under the Clean Air Act,” said CEI General Counsel Ondray Harris.

The EPA repealed its 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding on February 12, 2026. On February 18, a group of health, environmental, and advocacy organizations, including the American Public Health Association, filed a lawsuit to challenge the repeal.

The DEPA represents 39 coalition associations of American oil and natural gas producers, themselves representing over 10,000 individuals and organizations across the country.

Represented by Pacific Legal Foundation and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, DEPA is urging the court to uphold the repeal, arguing that federal agencies must have clear congressional authorization to make decisions on questions of vast economic and political significance, like rewriting national energy policy. The motion also argues that, unless that congressional authorization includes specific and “intelligible principles” to guide the agency’s actions, it violates the Constitution’s nondelegation doctrine by handing unchecked legislative power to an executive agency.

Pacific Legal Foundation and Competitive Enterprise Institute represent the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance free of charge. The case is American Public Health Association v. Environmental Protection Agency.