WASHINGTON— The Center for Biological Diversity and a broad coalition of health and environmental groups sued the Trump administration today over its rollback of the landmark scientific finding that forms the core basis of federal climate action.

The lawsuit also challenges the Environmental Protection Agency’s rollback of tailpipe rules that cut pollution from cars and trucks — the nation’s largest source of climate pollution.

“We’re suing to stop Trump from torching our kids’ future in favor of a monster handout to oil companies,” said David Pettit, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “Nobody but Big Oil profits from Trump trashing climate science and making cars and trucks guzzle and pollute more. Consumers will pay more to fill up, and our skies and oceans will fill up with more pollution. The EPA’s rollbacks are based on political poppycock, not science or law, and the courts should see it that way.”

The 2009 endangerment finding concluded that planet-warming pollution like carbon dioxide and methane threatens public health and the welfare of current and future generations. It was based on overwhelming scientific evidence that has only become more robust and irrefutable since then.

The United States is the second-largest carbon polluter in the world, after China, and the largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases.

The endangerment finding underpins federal regulations that have reduced climate-damaging pollution from cars and trucks.

Revoking those lifesaving and gas-saving clean air standards will allow automakers to make cars that guzzle more gas and pollute more. It will force consumers to pay more at the gas pump.

The vehicle rules Trump plans to scrap would cut 7 billion metric tons of emissions and save the average American driver $6,000 in fuel and maintenance costs over the lifetimes of the vehicles made under the standards.

Today’s lawsuit was filed in federal court in the D.C. Circuit.

The case was brought by:

• The American Lung Association, American Public Health Association, Alliance of Nurses for a Healthy Environment, Clean Wisconsin, represented by Clean Air Task Force
• Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ), Clean Air Council, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Rio Grande International Study Center (RGISC), and the Union of Concerned Scientists, represented by Earthjustice
• Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental Law & Policy Center, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), Public Citizen, Sierra Club