SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
emissions
Coalition Sues Trump EPA for Torching Air Pollution Standards
"The repeal of these protections will mean more asthma attacks, emergency room visits, and premature deaths," said more than two dozen environmental and health groups.
Mar 30, 2026
A coalition of more than two dozen environmental and health groups sued the Trump administration on Monday for repealing Environmental Protection Agency rules that curbed dangerous chemical pollution from coal-fired power plants.
As part of President Donald Trump's efforts to dramatically expand the use of coal, the EPA last month finalized the repeal of the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), which tightened existing restrictions on the emission of mercury, lead, and other brain-damaging chemicals from power plants.
Coal emits more planet-heating carbon dioxide per unit than any other fossil fuel. Coal plants also release a slew of other chemicals that can cause numerous health complications, including asthma, lung cancer, and respiratory infections.
The EPA says coal-fired power plants are also the single largest source of airborne mercury emissions, which can impair cognitive development, especially in young children.
MATS was created in 2012 to counter these effects and proved quite successful. Within six years of its enactment by the EPA, the amount of toxic mercury being emitted into the atmosphere from energy plants had declined by 90%, according to an agency report.
The Trump EPA has not repealed MATS entirely. Instead, it has targeted amendments enacted by the Biden administration in 2024 that lowered caps on mercury emissions, as well as on other toxic chemicals such as nickel and arsenic.
The EPA has also repealed rules requiring constant monitoring of toxic chemical emissions. Instead of installing expensive systems to track their outputs 24/7, plants can revert to conducting occasional checks.
The repeal came after the administration had already given dozens of coal plants a two-year exemption from the standards last April, even though, according to the agency, 93% were already on track to meet the requirements.
According to an analysis of EPA data by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) last month, sulfur dioxide pollution from coal plants increased by 18% last year, with those exempt from the rules surging almost twice as much as those not exempt.
The lawsuit, filed in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, argues that the Trump administration's actions violate the Clean Air Act, ignore the scientific record, and endanger communities living near power plants.
The suit is backed by groups including the NRDC, the Sierra Club, and the Environmental Defense Fund, as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Lung Association.
"The repeal of these protections will mean more asthma attacks, emergency room visits, and premature deaths," the groups said in a statement challenging the repeal. "This administration is not just rolling back rules, it is eliminating the monitoring infrastructure needed to know what is coming out of these smokestacks in the first place."
"It is allowing coal plants to spew out more neurotoxic mercury into our air and food supply, while simultaneously keeping the communities most at risk in the dark about how serious that threat is," they said. "This is a betrayal of the EPA’s core mission.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
In 'Giant Gift' to Big Oil, EPA to Repeal Climate Finding That Underpins Regulations
"This is anti-scientific, immoral, and economically irresponsible," said one Democratic lawmaker.
Jul 23, 2025
The scientific evidence underpinning the 2009 legal opinion that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human lives and public health "has only become more robust" over the last 16 years, noted one biodiversity protection group on Wednesday—yet the top environmental agency in the United States is reportedly days away from rescinding the finding that has backed key anti-pollution regulations.
Months after Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin marked what he called "the most consequential day of deregulation in American history" by announcing plans to reconsider the 2009 "endangerment finding," administration sources said Wednesday that the EPA has drafted a plan to repeal the finding as well as limits on tailpipe emissions—which were based on the legal opinion.
The endangerment finding was made official as a result of the 2007 Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA, which affirmed that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane are pollutants that must be regulated under the Clean Air Act.
The finding was outlined in a 210-page document that explained how six greenhouse gases were harming public health and safety by contributing to more frequent and severe extreme heat and storms, and were expected to cause higher rates of death and disease.
The New York Times notably pointed out that "the draft EPA rule does not appear to focus on the science or try to make the case that fossil fuels aren't warming the planet" but rather claims that the agency overstepped its authority by finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger the public.
"The EPA intends to argue that imposing climate regulations on automakers poses the real harm to human health because it would lead to higher prices and reduced consumer choice, according to the two people familiar with the administration's plan," the Times reported.
Effectively, said former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth, the EPA is proceeding as though President Donald Trump "has 'solved' climate change."
"He will revoke the scientific findings behind it and hence eliminate the ability of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to work on it," said Roth. "And we're not supposed to notice the consequences."
If the endangerment finding is repealed as planned, it would clear the way to erase all regulatory limits on pollution from vehicles, power plants, and other sources, as well as preventing future administrations from passing regulations.
"This is BEYOND devastating for future generations," said Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias.
The Trump administration is moving to repeal the foundational scientific finding as well as tailpipe emissions limits weeks after a study by three climate experts found that the devastating floods in central Texas earlier this month—which killed at least 135 people, including dozens of young children—were caused by "very exceptional meteorological conditions" that were induced by human-caused climate change.
The proposed repeal of the endangerment finding "is anti-scientific, immoral, and economically irresponsible," said U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.).
The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) pointed out that the tailpipe emissions rules Trump plans to slash would not only cut 7 billion metric tons of pollution-causing emissions but also save the average driver $6,000 in fuel and maintenance costs.
"This cynical one-two punch is intended to allow Trump's Flat Earth EPA to slam the brakes on reducing auto pollution and ignore urgent warnings from the world's leading scientists about the need for climate action," said Dan Becker, director of CBD's Climate Transport Campaign.
Advocates have condemned Trump and other top administration officials for working in the interest of fossil fuel companies by moving to roll back federal policies aimed at promoting renewable energy and cutting down on emissions. The president promised oil executives he would do so during his campaign last year when he asked them to donate $1 billion to him in a statement that sparked an investigation over the alleged quid pro quo offer.
On Tuesday, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington released a report showing that White House aides hold up to $2.25 million in Big Oil stocks.
"By revoking this key scientific finding our government is putting fealty to Big Oil over sound science and people's health," said Becker. "These proposals are a giant gift to oil companies that will do real damage to people, wildlife, and future generations."
Rescinding the vehicle emissions regulations and the endangerment finding makes "a mockery of the institutions set up to protect us all," said Anne Jellema, executive director of 350.org.
"It's one thing to willfully ignore the science in favor of profit, but to attempt to cancel it altogether beggars belief," said Jellema. "Canceling the endangerment finding would declare open season on all of humanity, and cause irreversible harm to the entire planet, not just within the boundaries of the United States."
“We are already bearing witness to the impacts of the chaotic policy changes being pushed through by this administration. These have cost us lives, and will continue to do so long into the future," she added.
Jellema urged climate advocates to make their opposition to the repeal known after it is formally announced, at which point it will be subject to public comment.
"We will not sit back," said Jellema, "and let this administration unravel the protections we have fought so long and hard for."
Keep ReadingShow Less
2024 Still on Track to Be First Full Year That Breached 1.5°C
"No surprise at all, but still shocking news. Will temperatures drop below 1.5°C again? I have my doubts," said one climate scientist.
Dec 09, 2024
Data from the first 11 months of 2024 reaffirmed that the globe is set to pass a grim milestone this year, according to the European Union's earth observation program.
The E.U.'s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in a report Monday that November 2024 was 1.62°C above the preindustrial level, making it the 16th month in a 17-month stretch during which global-average surface air temperature breached 1.5°C. November 2024 was the second-warmest November, after November of last year, according to C3S.
"At this point, it is effectively certain that 2024 is going to be the warmest year on record and more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level," according to a Monday statement from C3S. With data for November in hand, the service estimates that global temperature is set to be 1.59°C above the pre-industrial level for 2024, up from 1.48°C last year.
C3S announced last month that 2024 was "virtually certain" to be the hottest year on record after October 2024 hit 1.65°C higher than preindustrial levels.
"This does not mean that the Paris Agreement has been breached, but it does mean ambitious climate action is more urgent than ever," said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S.
Under the 2015 Paris agreement, signatory countries pledged to reduce their global greenhouse gas emissions with the aim of keeping global temperature rise this century to 1.5ºC, well below 2°C above preindustrial levels. According to the United Nations, going above 1.5ºC on an annual or monthly basis doesn't constitute failure to reach the agreement's goal, which refers to temperature rise over decades—however, "breaches of 1.5°C for a month or a year are early signs of getting perilously close to exceeding the long-term limit, and serve as clarion calls for increasing ambition and accelerating action in this critical decade."
Additionally, a recent paper in the journal Nature warned of irreversible impacts from overshooting the 1.5ºC target, even temporarily.
Climate scientist and volcanologist Bill McGuire reacted to the news Monday, saying: "Average temperature for 2024 expected to be 1.60°C. A massive hike on 2023, which itself was the hottest year for probably 120,000 years. No surprise at all, but still shocking news. Will temperatures drop below 1.5°C again? I have my doubts."
The update comes on the heels of COP29, the most recent U.N. climate summit, which many climate campaigners viewed as a disappointment. During the summit, attendees sought to reach a climate financing agreement that would see rich, developed countries contribute money to help developing countries decarbonize and deal with the impacts of the climate emergency. The final dollar amount, according to critics, fell far short of what developing countries need.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular