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The Cheswick Generating Station in 2010. Prior to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, oil-burning and coal-burning power plants largely avoided restrictions on emissions of hazardous air pollution. (Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice)
Press Release March 30, 2026

Coalition Sues Trump EPA Over Illegal Repeal of Mercury and Air Toxics Standards

Lawsuit challenges rollback that allows more mercury, lead, and other toxic pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants
document March 30, 2026

Mercury and Air Toxics Lawsuit Filing

A coalition of public health, environmental, and community advocates filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's repeal of standards that limit brain-damaging mercury, lead, and other hazardous air pollution from…
The coal fired power plant looms over the town of Colstrip, Mont. Montana’s Colstrip power plant is the largest emitter of toxic particulate matter of any plant in the country’s aging coal fleet. (Louise Johns for Earthjustice)
Press Release February 20, 2026

EPA Dismantles Protections for Mercury and Air Toxics From Power Plants

Advocates warn of more toxic pollution, asthma attacks, and premature deaths, especially in communities living near coal plants.
Duke’s investment in new coal-fired electric generation is imprudent and that Duke should be required to mitigate the four million tons of carbon pollution that the new plant will emit. (Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice)
video June 23, 2025

New Lawsuit Challenging Trump Administration’s Email-to-Pollute Exemption

President Trump and EPA Administrator Zeldin say they care about clean air, water, and food — but their actions tell a different story.
The Kingston Fossil Plant is a 1.4-gigawatt coal-fired power plant located in Roane County, outside of Kingston, Tenn., on the shore of Watts Bar Lake. It is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The Trump administration has exempted the plant from pollution limits set in the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. (Paul Harris / Getty Images)
Update June 12, 2025

Trump’s EPA Said Polluters Could Email Their Way Out of Clean Air Laws. We’re Sending It a Lawsuit.

Sixty-eight coal plants can now release more mercury, arsenic, and other heavy metals known to damage children’s brain development, trigger asthma attacks, and cause cancer.
The 68 coal-fired power plants exempted from mercury and arsenic pollution limits span 23 states. (Source: <a href="https://www.edf.org/maps/epa-pollution-pass/" class="a_color--black">Environmental Defense Fund and Environmental Integrity Project analysis of EPA data</a>)
feature June 12, 2025

Corporations Emailed. Then 68 Power Plants Got a Pass to Pollute.

Using a loophole, the Trump administration exempted coal power plants from mercury and arsenic limits, polluting the air we breathe.
Emissions from a stack at the Mitchell Power Plant, a coal powered plant, in Moundsville, West Virginia. (Lauren Petracca for Earthjustice)
Press Release June 11, 2025

Trump’s EPA Abandons Its Duty to Protect Public from Power Plant Air Pollution

EPA seeks to end limits on mercury and arsenic and climate pollution, increasing harm to communities and reversing progress on climate action
The Cheswick Generating Station operated next door to homes in Springdale, Penn., for more than 50 years until it finally closed in 2022. (Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice)
video June 5, 2025

Two Attacks on Clean Air by the Trump Administration

Attacks on clean air don’t just threaten the environment — they harm our health.
In the News: The New York Times March 27, 2025

E.P.A. Offers a Way to Avoid Clean-Air Rules: Send an Email

The Cheswick coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania, reflected in a window of a home in Springdale, is among the hundreds of power plants likely covered by the Mercury & Air Toxics Standards. (Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice)
feature April 25, 2024

The Mercury & Air Toxics Standards

When companies burn coal in the U.S., significant amounts of mercury spew into our air. Now, that mercury is controlled, thanks to a federal rule that Earthjustice and our clients…
A coal ash pond full of dead trees lies adjacent to Duke Energy's Buck Steam Station in Dukeville, N.C., in 2016. (Chuck Burton / AP)
Press Release: Victory April 25, 2024

Earthjustice Applauds EPA for Historic Suite of Safeguards from Power Plant Pollution

Standards will tackle major sources of climate pollution and protect public health
Press Release April 5, 2023

EPA Moves to Strengthen Protections Against Toxic Power Plant Air Pollution

The proposal strengthens a rule that has prevented between 4,200 and 11,000 premature deaths annually since 2016
Press Release February 17, 2023

EPA Reaffirms Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Will Save Lives

Reducing mercury and air toxins emissions has saved more than 11,000 lives and a stronger standard could prevent even more deaths
Press Release January 31, 2022

EPA Moves to Restore Authority to Limit Power Plants’ Toxic Air Emissions

Strengthened Mercury and Air Toxics Standards is critical for clean air
Press Release January 31, 2022

Agencia Busca Restaurar Autoridad Para Limitar Sustancias Tóxicas Emitidas por Plantas Eléctricas

El fortalecimiento del ‘Estándar de Mercurio y Tóxicos de Aire’ es fundamental para tener aire limpio
“EPA is sentencing entire segments of the population to a poisoned death,” said Caroline Armijo (left) of N.C. Read her story, and those of Nicole Horseherder of Ariz., and Tom Sedor of Penn., in the special report, <a href="//earthjustice.org/lives"><em>Erasing Lives</em></a>. (From left: Justin Cook for Earthjustice. Darcy Padilla. Chris Knight.)
feature May 13, 2021

Special Report: The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards

Three Americans living near power plants share how they will be harmed by the gutting of the Mercury & Air Toxics Standards.
document June 19, 2020

Petition for Review EPA's rollback of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards

Petition for review of EPA's MATS rollback
Coal-fired power plant (ansoncfit / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Press Release June 18, 2020

Groups Sue Trump’s EPA Over Rollback of Toxic Emissions Standards

Under the cover of COVID, EPA is putting thousands of lives at risk