Why Trump Is Going After Your Right to Take Polluters to Court (and How We’re Fighting Back)
Citizens suits are powerful tools to enforce the law, which is why the Trump administration is attacking them.
If the government won’t protect you from corporations that pollute your community’s air and water, you have the right to sue them yourself. That right is now under attack.
For more than 50 years, Americans have had the right to file “citizen suits” under federal law against corporations that illegally pollute their communities.
The right of everyday people to hold the powerful accountable to the law is critical to protecting our health, our environment, and our democracy. While President Trump’s administration has done little to enforce environmental laws against polluters, it’s now attempting to give itself veto authority over this powerful tool communities have to fight back.
Earthjustice has spent decades representing clients and partners in citizen suits against powerful industries. We won’t stand idly by while Trump tries to block this right.
What are citizen suits and why do they matter?
Without compliance, environmental laws are just words on paper. If a factory operator wants to release industrial waste into a local river, for example, it needs to seek a permit. If the company dumps waste without a permit, or violates the terms of that permit, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is supposed to step in and take action.
But if the EPA won’t act, you can. Under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and other bedrock environmental laws, citizens can sue companies directly in federal court to protect themselves against violations and seek an appropriate remedy.
In the 1970s, Congress included citizen suit provisions to major environmental laws because it wanted to ensure that people had the legal tools to hold polluters accountable, even when public agencies don’t. Since then, courts across the country have uniformly upheld this right.
At Earthjustice, we’re representing a growing number of clients and partners from around the country who have filed citizen suits to protect themselves, their communities, and future generations from environmental harm.
How are citizens using this right to challenge AI data centers?
In Southaven, Mississippi, residents are fighting back against Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, using the Clean Air Act’s citizen suit provision. Earlier this year, the company illegally installed dozens of massive methane gas turbines in the community to power an AI data center in nearby Memphis. xAI fired up the turbines without obtaining the legally required federal air permits. The turbines – which power the company’s Grok chatbot and other AI tools – are now spewing toxic nitrogen oxides and formaldehyde into communities already suffering from poor air quality.
In April 2026, the NAACP, represented by Earthjustice and the Southern Environmental Law Center, filed a citizen suit against the company in federal court. Since we notified the company of our intent to sue, the number of unpermitted turbines has grown from 27 to 57.
The suit asks the court to order xAI to shut down the unpermitted turbines, install pollution controls, and pay financial penalties for violating federal law. Now Trump’s Justice Department wants to shield the company from being held accountable for its illegal pollution — and it’s attempting to grab power from impacted communities, the courts, and Congress to do so.
Gas-powered turbines, with more being built, operate in Southaven, Mississippi to power a large xAI data center just to the north in Memphis, Tennessee. (Brad Zweerink / Earthjustice)
Why is the Trump administration trying to stop citizen suits?
The Trump administration wants to protect polluting industries, and it knows that citizen suits are powerful legal tools that give everyday people the ability to stand up to them.
In Seadrift, Texas, a fourth-generation fisherwoman Diane Wilson successfully used a citizen suit to secure a $50 million settlement against plastics giant Formosa for polluting local waterways with microplastics. In Flint, Michigan, residents did the same to help secure safe drinking water after test results showed elevated lead levels in the city’s water.
These victories highlight citizen suits as a powerful engine of environmental protection.
Now, Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has swooped in to protect Elon Musk’s data center company from the consequences of their illegal pollution.
These unfounded arguments are an attack on communities’ right to defend themselves from corporations who violate the law.
Diane Wilson, executive director of San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper, gathers nurdles, or plastic pellets, on a bay island in Seadrift, Texas. (Danielle Villasana for Earthjustice)
Why can’t we just rely on the government to enforce environmental laws?
Under the Trump administration, companies that pollute are facing almost no consequences.
Case in point: In 2025, the Trump administration brought only 21 civil environmental enforcement cases to court, less than a third of what the federal government brought during the same period in 2024, and far lower than any year in modern history. 2026 is not shaping up any better. As of May 20, the administration has filed just 12 environmental cases.
Even under well-intentioned administrations, gaps in law enforcement are inevitable. Congress knew that government agencies couldn’t catch every violation. That’s why it wrote the citizen suit provisions into our landmark environmental laws as a way for communities to step in when agencies don’t.
But when presidential administrations like Trump’s actively refuse to play their role in holding polluters accountable, that powerful stopgap becomes even more critical to ensuring that companies don’t have a license to pollute. Workers, families, and children shouldn’t have to pay the price of unchecked pollution.
What are some examples of citizen suits Earthjustice has filed?
Earthjustice has used citizen suits on behalf of our clients and partners, securing important victories that help ensure clean air, clean water, and a healthy environment.
As the Trump administration guts agencies charged with environmental enforcement, Earthjustice is building its own enforcement team to support communities as they fight to hold polluters accountable.
Here are just a few cases where our community clients used citizen suits to take on corporations — and won.
- Making Phillips 66 oil refinery fix gas leaks in Southern California. In 2020, Phillips 66 agreed to find and fix gas leaks at two of its massive oil refining operations after Earthjustice, representing East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, successfully sued the company for repeatedly violating the Clean Air Act.
- Cleaning up ocean waters in Hawai‘i. In 2024, Hawaiʻi County agreed to take responsibility for its illegal wastewater discharges into Honokōhau Harbor after Earthjustice filed a citizen suit on behalf of community group Hui Mālama Honokōhau.
- Fighting microplastics in the Gulf. In 2025, Earthjustice represented San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper. We filed a notice of intent to sue under a Clean Water Act citizen suit against plastic manufacturers discharging microplastics and other pollutants into waterways near Seadrift, Texas. However, before we could file our lawsuit, the State of Texas stepped in, opened an investigation, and filed their own lawsuit against the company for “habitual” pollution violations. The 60-day notice gave the state ample time to investigate illegal pollution and enforce the law.
The Gulf Regional Office works with communities and other partners fighting for a healthy and just future in the Gulf. We work to cut pollution, end fossil fuel expansion, protect our region’s precious places and wildlife, transition to clean energy, and drive climate solutions that work for everyone.