Environmental agencies sue over Trump rolling back power plant climate rules

The Natural Resources Defense Council, American Lung Association, American Public Health Association, Clean Air Council, Clean Wisconsin, and Environmental Defense Fund filed the lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, arguing the EPA violated its obligations under the Clean Air Act by repealing the standards without replacing them.The lawsuit comes three days after the EPA finalized a partial repeal of the Biden administration’s 2024 carbon pollution standards. The agency said the move would reduce regulatory costs, strengthen electric-grid reliability, and save an estimated $310 billion in compliance costs. The EPA separately proposed eliminating the remaining greenhouse gas standards for power plants. “Repealing these standards without a replacement is an abdication of EPA’s legal responsibility to protect public health and the environment,” Meredith Hankins, federal climate legal director at NRDC, said Thursday. “The Clean Air Act and Supreme Court precedent demand that the EPA address climate pollution from the largest industrial source in the nation.”The groups also argued that power plant emissions pose significant health risks.“Clean air is a basic human right,” said Georges C. Benjamin, CEO of the American Public Health Association. He said power plant pollution threatens millions of Americans and that weakening the standards would particularly affect children, pregnant people, and communities already facing high levels of pollution.American Lung Association President and CEO Harold Wimmer said power plant emissions contribute to climate change and that reducing carbon emissions can also reduce other pollutants harmful to lung health.The EPA has defended the rollback as a way to expand access to reliable, affordable energy since it was announced on Monday.“For over 15 years, the Obama and Biden administrations implemented a war on coal to destroy reliable and affordable energy,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said Monday. “The Trump Administration has come in to protect American energy and to make sure you can afford to keep the lights on.”Under the final rule, new coal-fired power plants will remain subject to standards established in 2015. New natural gas plants will also remain subject to the 2015 standards and certain efficiency requirements established in 2024.The Biden-era rules required existing coal plants and new natural gas plants to meet carbon pollution limits based on technologies such as carbon capture. The Trump EPA said repealing those requirements would reduce compliance costs and preserve energy options as electricity demand grows.DOE OFFERS $16 MILLION FOR MINING PROGRAMS TO COUNTER CHINA’S CONTROL OF THE SUPPLY CHAINThe dispute is the latest chapter in a yearslong legal battle over EPA authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The Supreme Court limited that authority in its 2022 West Virginia v. EPA ruling, after which the Biden administration crafted its 2024 regulations.Now, environmental groups are asking the D.C. Circuit to block the Trump administration’s rollback, setting up another legal fight over the scope of federal authority to regulate power plant carbon emissions.