A coalition of more than 20 Democratic attorneys general sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its administrator, Lee Zeldin, on Thursday, alleging that the agency’s repeal of Biden-era greenhouse gas limits on power plants violates the Clean Air Act, Spectrum News reported.
The plaintiffs filed the case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. They are asking the court to restore the EPA’s greenhouse gas emissions standards for power plants, according to Spectrum News. Reuters, in a report carried by the Maryland Daily Record, described the group as 25 states and cities.
Beyond California and New York, the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia joined the suit. So did the governor of Pennsylvania, the mayors of Chicago and New York City, and the City and County of Denver.
What the EPA repealed
The rule at issue is the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards, which required power plants to cut greenhouse gas emissions by installing carbon capture technology, Reuters reported. The EPA’s own power plant standards page says Zeldin signed the final partial repeal of those standards on Sept. 14, 2026.
The agency said the 2024 rules adversely affected the nation’s energy systems, according to Spectrum News. It estimated that the rollback would save $310 billion, mostly in costs that power companies would no longer have to pay to reduce emissions.
“The Trump administration has come in to protect American energy and to make sure you can afford to keep the lights on,” Zeldin said in a statement announcing the final rule. “Americans will see a decrease in electricity prices.”
The states’ argument
The complaint contends that the repeal “significantly undermines efforts to address climate change and exposes communities to greater environmental harm by undoing climate regulations on power plants,” Spectrum News reported.
The coalition also said the EPA revoked the regulations without considering “reasonable alternatives” or factoring in the health and climate costs of allowing more pollution into the atmosphere, according to Reuters.
New York Attorney General Letitia James wrote on X on Thursday that “the Trump administration is pushing for catastrophic rollbacks of federal limits on greenhouse gas pollution.” New York State and the mayor of New York City are both plaintiffs. “I’m suing to stop this administration from giving the nation’s biggest polluters a free pass to set our country back decades in the fight against climate change,” James said.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said failing to control emissions from electricity generation would increase heat waves, wildfires, severe storms, flooding, disease and air pollution, and harm regional ecosystems, according to Spectrum News.
A second claim over gas plants
Along with its petition to strike down the repeal, the coalition notified the EPA that it will sue over the agency’s continued failure to fully regulate pollution from existing natural gas power plants, Reuters reported.
An EPA spokesperson told Spectrum News that the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
Where power plants fit in U.S. emissions
Power plants are the second-biggest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions after vehicles and account for one-quarter of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, Reuters reported. The EPA estimated in 2022 that electric power plants accounted for 24 percent of domestic carbon dioxide emissions from burning coal, oil and natural gas, second only to transportation at 29 percent, according to Spectrum News.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in 2023 that about 60 percent of U.S. electricity generation came from fossil fuels, compared with 19 percent from nuclear and 21 percent from renewables, Spectrum News reported.
The EPA has a separate action pending. It proposed rescinding the greenhouse gas findings for fossil fuel-fired power plants and repealing its power plant greenhouse gas regulations under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act. The agency scheduled a virtual public hearing on that proposal for Oct. 1 and 2, 2026, according to its website.
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