UPDATE 2-US EPA denies challenges to greenhouse gas rule

* EPA defends scientific basis for endangerment finding

* Texas and Virginia among 10 challengers

* Decision draws praise from environmental advocates

* Virginia official calls EPA's move "fatally flawed" (Adds reaction, paragraphs 5-10)

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday rejected 10 petitions challenging EPA's 2009 finding that climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health and the environment.

The EPA received petitions questioning the scientific basis for the so-called endangerment finding -- which cleared the way for the EPA to curb carbon dioxide emissions -- from Texas and Virginia and groups like the Ohio Coal Association.

With the U.S. Senate abandoning climate measures in the energy bill until at least September, the EPA has the authority to regulate emissions from such human activities as coal-fired power plants and fossil-fueled factories and vehicles.

"The endangerment finding is based on years of science from the U.S. and around the world," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a statement. "These petitions -- based as they are on selectively edited, out-of-context data and a manufactured controversy -- provide no evidence to undermine our determination."