EPA Sued Over Repeal of Power Plant Carbon Reduction Rules

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Sept. 17, 2026) – Environmental and public health groups sued to stop the Environmental Protection Agency’s repeal of critical standards for power plant carbon pollution. NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), American Lung Association, American Public Health Association, Clean Air Council, and Clean Wisconsin (represented by Clean Air Task Force), and the Environmental Defense Fund filed the action at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today.  

Following are quotes from groups involved in the litigation: 

“This unlawful rule seeks to remove our national limits on climate pollution from power plants at a time when more Americans than ever are suffering from the dangerous heat and more powerful storms caused by that pollution and are facing the ensuing skyrocketing insurance bills and health costs,” said Vickie Patton, General Counsel for Environmental Defense Fund. “Increased power plant pollution resulting from this rule will cause thousands of premature deaths and billions of dollars in additional health costs. We are taking action in the court of law to ensure EPA carries out its responsibilities under our nation’s clean air laws to protect the American people from this harmful pollution and to address the health risks and financial costs for people across the country.”   

“Repealing these standards without a replacement is an abdication of EPA’s legal responsibility to protect public health and the environment,” said Meredith Hankins, federal climate legal director at NRDC. “The Clean Air Act and Supreme Court precedent demand that the EPA address climate pollution from the largest industrial source in the nation. The EPA’s legal reasoning is fatally flawed, so we are going to court.” 

“Clean air is a basic human right. Power plant pollution threatens the health of millions of Americans and fuels climate change, worsening extreme heat, poor air quality and other serious health risks,” said Georges C. Benjamin, MD, CEO of the American Public Health Association. “Weakening these life-saving standards would strip away vital protections for all, and especially for children, pregnant people and communities already overburdened by pollution. EPA must maintain strong clean air and climate standards so every community can live a healthy life.” 

“Emissions from power plants drive climate change, and climate change is a health emergency,” said Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association. “Measures that clean up power plant emissions also clean up other lung-harming pollutants at the same time. EPA has the authority and the responsibility to protect people’s health from air pollution.” 

“This unlawful rollback will have devastating consequences if allowed to stand,” said Brett Korte, Senior Staff Attorney at Clean Wisconsin. “Here in Wisconsin, we’re experiencing warmer winters with less snow and ice cover, more exceedingly hot days in summer, and more frequent extreme weather events, like flooding and tornadoes, due to climate change. On top of that, Wisconsin has the ninth-highest death rate from particulate matter pollution from fossil fuel combustion. EPA abandoning its responsibility to regulate carbon pollution would only make these problems worse.” 

“EPA is senselessly discarding readily attainable carbon standards for power plants mere weeks after the UN showed the world on a trajectory to exceed the heating limit needed to avoid severe levels of economic, ecological, and social disruption,” said Lawrence Hafetz, Legal Director of Pennsylvania-based Clean Air Council. “By rolling back these critical protections, millions of Americans will get sicker, face more extreme weather, and pay more for energy and electricity, with vulnerable communities suffering the most. EPA is supposed to protect people and the environment, not rewrite the rules to benefit polluters.”   

Background: 

The 2024 standards the EPA finalized its repeal of today were estimated to deliver a net $370 billion in climate and health benefits – with benefits a stunning 20 times that of the costs to industry. A recent NRDC analysis found that this administration’s policies will destroy $700 billion in new power sector investments over the next decade and cut by half the power sector carbon reductions likely before its policies took effect.  

The Clean Air Act obligates EPA to issue standards to reduce emissions from sources such as power plants that significantly contribute to dangerous air pollution. The EPA’s action follows a new United Nations report warning that the world is set to exceed a key climate threshold and so countries need to take more intensive actions to cut carbon pollution while also intensifying efforts to adapt to climate-fueled heat, storms and fires.  

The carbon standards for power plants were finalized in April of 2024 and would require carbon pollution reductions from existing coal and new gas-fired power plants. Fossil-fuel power plants are responsible for about a quarter of the nation’s carbon emissions. Those standards were based on pollution controls that could be accomplished at an individual power plant, making them consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA.