Environmental Defense Fund v. EPA

In a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) complaint, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) alleged that the Trump administration had indicated “an intent to undermine, if not seek to eliminate, EPA’s motor vehicle pollution standards and to terminate Clean Air Act preemption waivers that allow California to adopt clean transportation standards.” In particular, the complaint cited President Trump’s executive order on “Unleashing American Energy” in which he stated a policy to “eliminate” an “electric vehicle (EV) mandate” and directed agencies to develop and implement plans to suspend, revise, or rescind all agency actions that were “unduly burdensome” to domestic energy resources. EDF alleged that it submitted a FOIA request on January 27, 2025 seeking “(i) all correspondence and records with or between sixteen EPA transition team members and political appointees related to changes to Clean Air Act vehicle pollution reduction programs; and (ii) all correspondence between any of those sixteen individuals and any external, non-governmental stakeholders (including but not limited to seven specific industry stakeholders) related to changes to Clean Air Act vehicle pollution reduction programs.” EDF alleged that EPA had not made the required determination on the request by the statutory deadline.