Clean Wisconsin Sues EPA Over Rollback of Toxic Air Pollution Protections
Rollback allows more mercury, lead, arsenic and other toxins to be released from power plants
WASHINGTON, D.C.– Clean Wisconsin has joined a coalition of public health, environmental, and community advocates to file a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s repeal of standards that limit brain-damaging mercury, lead, arsenic, and other hazardous air pollution from coal-fired power plants. Since EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) took effect in 2015, they’ve driven down dangerous mercury pollution from power plants by more than 90%. The standards have also delivered significant public health benefits, lowering the risk of cancer, heart and lung disease, and premature death.
The lawsuit also challenges EPA’s rollback of real-time continuous emissions monitoring at power plants, which would have given communities accurate real-time data on the pollution they’re breathing and a stronger tool for enforcing compliance. The repeal violates the Clean Air Act, ignores the scientific record, and abandons safeguards that protect communities living near coal plants and downwind of their pollution.
Fish Concerns in Wisconsin
- In Wisconsin, most of our exposure to mercury comes from contaminated fish.
- 106 of our inland waterbodies and both Great Lakes (and their tributaries) have fish consumption advisories due to mercury from power plants.
- Nearly 40% of Wisconsinites consume locally-caught fish, the 2nd-highest of Great Lakes states behind Minnesota.
“The EPA has officially crossed the line between negligently ignoring its duties under federal law and actively pursuing policies that harm human health. No previous administration has even questioned the need to reduce hazardous, toxic chemicals in our air to the greatest extent possible, much less taken steps to increase them,” says Clean Wisconsin General Counsel Katie Nekola. “These are chemicals that cause cancer, neurological damage, and birth defects, among many other harms. There is absolutely no justification for this unprecedented and illegal action on the part of EPA.”
The repeal of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards follows a two-year exemption from the protections that the Trump administration granted to many coal plants, even though, according to the EPA’s own record, 93% of US coal capacity had already met or were on track to meet those standards.
Since the Trump administration gave the country’s dirtiest coal plants a free pass, sulfur dioxide emissions have increased 18% nationally and neurotoxic mercury emissions have risen 9%. The sulfur dioxide spike was the second-largest single-year jump by percentage since EPA began publishing this data 30 years ago.
The following is a statement from the coalition challenging the repeal in court:
“This administration is not just rolling back rules, it is eliminating the monitoring infrastructure needed to know what is coming out of these smokestacks in the first place. It is allowing coal plants to spew out more neurotoxic mercury into our air and food supply, while simultaneously keeping the communities most at risk in the dark about how serious that threat is. This is a betrayal of the EPA’s core mission.”
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by Air Alliance Houston, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Lung Association, American Public Health Association, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, Clean Air Council, Clean Air Task Force (representing some of the other groups), Clean Wisconsin, Conservation Law Foundation, Dakota Resource Council, Downwinders at Risk, Earthjustice (representing some of the other groups), Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Kentucky Resources Council, Montana Environmental Information Center, Natural Resources Council of Maine, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sierra Club and Southern Environmental Law Center (representing some of the other groups).
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
Mentioned in This Press Release
Recent Press Releases by Clean Wisconsin
Line 5 Legal Battle Continues: Environmental Groups File Petition for Judicial Review of Permit Decision
Feb 24th, 2026 by Clean WisconsinPetition calls for pipeline construction to remain on hold while decision is under review
Clean Wisconsin Sues Epa Over Repeal of Climate Protections
Feb 18th, 2026 by Clean WisconsinOverwhelming evidence shows climate change is already hurting Wisconsinites
