15 AGs sue Trump EPA for not enforcing pollution controls

Fifteen attorneys general and the city of Chicago filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Administrator Scott Pruitt on Thursday for not controlling methane emissions.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement that the group is fighting back against the Trump administration for “ignoring its legal duty to control emissions of methane — and extremely potent greenhouse gas — from existing oil and gas operations.”

{mosads}They also charge Pruitt with violating the Clean Air Act by “unreasonably delaying” its mandatory obligation through the act to control methane emissions

The EPA’s refusal to control methane pollution is illegal, Schneiderman said in a statement.

It also “threatens our public health and environment, and squanders savings of over $100 million annually.”

The suit was filed Thursday in a U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It was brought forth by the attorneys general of New York, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia, as well as the City of Chicago.

Schneiderman has sued the Trump administration dozens of times over the past year. He pledged in February to lead a “multistage” lawsuit against Pruitt for delaying a major water pollution rule.

The EPA is facing a a record-breaking number of anti-secrecy lawsuits and many other for rolling back certain Obama-era pollution regulations.

Last month, seven Democratic states threatened to sue the Trump administration for its delay in enforcing a 2016 rule on landfill methane pollutions.

In March, the administration asked a court to dismiss a lawsuit against Pruitt for his new policy that prevents EPA grant recipients from serving on external committees.