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4w ago

States, Health Groups Sue EPA Over Rollback of Mercury and Toxics Rule

The court challenge tests the legality of the EPA’s rollback under the Clean Air Act.

Fisk Coal Station’s smokestack lies dormant in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., as the century-old electric generating plant shut down in 2012 is pressed into service again while the nation’s electrical grids struggle to meet growing demand from data centers, November 17, 2025, in this screengrab from video. REUTERS/Eric Cox/File Photo
Emissions rise from the smokestacks at the Jeffrey Energy Center coal power plant as the suns sets, near Emmett, Kansas, on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. The U.N. health agency said Monday, April 4, 2022, nearly everybody in the world breathes air that doesn’t meet its standards for air quality, calling for more action to reduce fossil-fuel use, which generates pollutants that cause respiratory and blood-flow problems and lead to millions of preventable deaths each year. Charlie Riedel/ AP Photo

Overview

  • Two lawsuits now target the repeal, with health and environmental groups filing Monday in the D.C. Circuit and a coalition of 21 states and local governments filing as well.
  • The Trump EPA scrapped the Biden administration’s 2024 update to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, which also removed continuous real-time emissions monitoring after earlier two-year exemptions for many coal plants.
  • Plaintiffs say the action violates the Clean Air Act and would undo planned protections, noting the 2024 update was projected to cut mercury pollution by about 70% and reduce other toxic metals by roughly two-thirds.
  • Advocates cite EPA and NRDC data showing sulfur dioxide rose about 18% nationwide and mercury rose about 9% after exemptions let many older coal plants avoid stricter controls.
  • EPA defends the repeal as a step to keep energy affordable and reliable and estimates about $670 million in compliance cost savings.