Attorney General Nick Brown today joined a coalition suing 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In September, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) repealed safeguards that required coal- and gas-fired power plants to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, the primary driver of climate change. Brown and the coalition of 25 states, counties, and cities are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to restore these protections. Separately, the coalition is also notifying EPA of its intent to sue over the agency's continued failure to fully regulate pollution from existing natural gas power plants.

"Rolling back pollution limits only helps polluters," Brown said. "These emissions pose tremendous harm for the health of our residents and the sustainability of our communities."

This case challenges 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 through carbon capture technology. Power plants are among the largest drivers of the climate crisis, producing roughly one-quarter of the nation's carbon dioxide emissions.

By EPA's own analysis, the 2024 standards would have provided an estimated $370 billion in net benefits through 2047, including fewer premature deaths, lost workdays, and hospital visits. The standards were flexible, giving existing coal plants years to come into compliance and setting different standards for different plants according to their planned operational life and plant type. Instead of maintaining these reasonable limits on pollution, the federal administration erased them and introduced a proposal to eliminate limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants entirely.

Greenhouse gas pollution is overheating the planet and directly harms Washingtonians in their everyday lives. Climate change drives more frequent and intense flooding, fire, and heat waves, all of which harm the health and wellbeing of Washington residents. The associated health risks are often greatest for the elderly, children, people with existing chronic health conditions, individuals with greater exposure to outside conditions, those with less access to healthcare, and those living nearest to the sources of pollution. The rapidly changing climate threatens industries that support the state's economy such as shellfish farming, forestry, and hydropower.

The coalition will argue that EPA unlawfully abandoned its pollution limits without properly considering reasonable alternatives or the enormous health and climate costs of allowing more pollution into the atmosphere. The coalition is asking the court to strike down this unlawful rollback of environmental protections and ensure the United States can keep limiting pollution from many of the nation's biggest polluters.

Brown and the coalition also filed a notice of intent to sue EPA over the agency's continued failure to regulate greenhouse gas pollution from many existing gas-fired power plants. Despite issuing standards for new gas plants over a decade ago, EPA has never fulfilled its legal obligation to limit pollution from existing gas plants. By delaying these protections for years, EPA has left many communities without the safeguards required by the Clean Air Act.

Brown joins this challenge, which is led by the attorney general of New York, with the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as the Governor of Pennsylvania, the Mayors of New York City and Chicago, and the City and County of Denver.

Read the petition for review.

Read the notice of intent to sue.

-30-

Washington's Attorney General serves the people and the state of Washington. As the state's largest law firm, the Attorney General's Office provides legal representation to every state agency, board, and commission in Washington. Additionally, the Office serves the people directly by enforcing consumer protection, civil rights, and environmental protection laws. The Office also prosecutes elder abuse, Medicaid fraud, and handles sexually violent predator cases in 38 of Washington's 39 counties. Visit www.atg.wa.gov to learn more.

Media Contact:

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (360) 753-2727

General contacts: Click here

Media Resource Guide & Attorney General's Office FAQ