25 states, cities and counties sue EPA over power plant emissions repeal
Victoria Shinder2 min readA coalition of 25 states, cities and counties has sued the US Environmental Protection Agency in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over its repeal of most of the greenhouse gas standards for power plants adopted under the previous administration, Utility Dive reports. The filing came on 1 October.
The coalition also served a notice of intent to sue the agency for failing to regulate greenhouse gases from existing gas-fired plants, including the "peaker" units that run at times of high demand and are often sited in low-income communities. Such a notice is a required step before suing a federal agency for not carrying out a mandatory duty. In it, the coalition says it has demanded for more than two decades that the EPA issue emission guidelines for existing combustion turbines.
The plaintiffs include the attorneys general of Arizona, California, 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 by the governor of Pennsylvania, the City and County of Denver and the mayors of Chicago and New York City.
What is being challenged. In September, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency had finalised the repeal of most provisions of the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards for fossil-fuelled generating units, and proposed removing every remaining greenhouse gas standard for the power sector. The EPA argues it lacks authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate power plant emissions to address climate change, pointing to the administration's repeal of the 2009 endangerment finding and the Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision. In announcing the repeal, it said models show that power plant emissions have no material effect on global climate change.
The timing overlaps with the EPA's process on the second step. Several state attorneys general and New York City's climate office testified at a virtual public hearing on the proposal to repeal the remaining standards, which was continuing on the day of the filing. The EPA did not respond to Utility Dive's request for comment.
Why it matters
For utilities and plant developers, the standards for new and existing fossil units now depend on litigation rather than on a rule. Investment decisions about gas plants being built for data-centre demand — and about whether existing units need carbon capture or must retire — will be made against that uncertainty, and the separate notice on existing gas plants opens a second front that targets exactly the peakers many grids are leaning on.