Office of the
Illinois Attorney General
Kwame Raoul

Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul today filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for dismantling federal greenhouse gas pollution limits for many of the nation’s largest power plants. In September, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) repealed safeguards that required coal- and gas-fired power plants to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, clearing the way for a significant increase in pollution that will worsen extreme heat, deadly storms, flooding and wildfire smoke.

Raoul, as part of a coalition of 25 states, counties and cities, is filing a petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, asking the court to strike down the repeal and restore these protections. The coalition is also notifying the EPA of its intent to sue over the agency’s continued failure to fully regulate pollution from existing natural gas power plants.

“Americans cannot afford the impact of unchecked climate change,” Raoul said. “The Trump administration is yet again jeopardizing the environment and public health and safety by trying to dismantle essential regulations. I proudly stand against this reckless and unlawful attempt to strike down science-backed emission standards that protect the environment and our health.”  

Raoul and the coalition are challenging the EPA’s repeal of the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards, which required many of the country's largest power plants to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Power plants are among the largest drivers of the climate crisis, producing roughly one-quarter of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions. Rather than hold polluters accountable, the federal administration erased federal pollution limits for most gas- and coal-fired power plants and introduced a proposal to eliminate power plant emission regulation entirely.

Eliminating limits on these emissions threatens communities across the country. Climate pollution contributes to more frequent and more intense heat waves that put children, older adults and workers at risk. It also contributes to stronger storms and heavier flooding that threaten lives, damage homes, businesses and transit systems, as well as more wildfire smoke that makes air dangerous to breathe. Increased pollution from fossil fuel power plants can worsen asthma, heart disease and other serious respiratory illnesses, especially in low-income and other overburdened communities. These changes also increase the financial burden on local and state governments that must spend billions of dollars recovering from increasingly extreme weather.

In their lawsuit, Raoul and the coalition argue that the EPA unlawfully abandoned these pollution limits without properly considering reasonable alternatives or the enormous health and climate costs of allowing more pollution into the atmosphere. They will assert that the rescission was arbitrary and capricious because the EPA did not properly calculate the cost of repealing the rule. The coalition is asking the court to strike down this unlawful rollback of environmental protections and ensure the country can keep limiting pollution from many of the nation’s biggest polluters.

In addition, Raoul and the coalition today filed a notice of intent to sue the EPA over the agency’s continued failure to regulate greenhouse gas pollution from many existing gas-fired power plants. Those facilities, including “peaker” plants that often operate during periods of high electricity demand, are frequently located in low-income communities and communities of color that already bear a disproportionate share of pollution. Despite issuing standards for new gas plants over a decade ago, the EPA has never fulfilled its legal obligation to limit pollution from existing gas plants. By delaying these protections for years, the EPA has left many communities without the safeguards required by the Clean Air Act.

Joining Attorney General Raoul in filing today’s lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as the governor of Pennsylvania, the mayors of New York City and Chicago, and the city and county of Denver.