Attorney General Rayfield Sues to Restore Limits on Power Plant Pollution

Attorney General Dan Rayfield today sued the Trump Administration for scrapping federal limits on greenhouse gas pollution from many of the country’s largest power plants. Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) repealed rules requiring coal- and gas-fired power plants to cut their emissions. That decision opens the door to more pollution, which means hotter summers, stronger storms, more flooding, and more wildfire smoke.

“Oregonians know what a changing climate looks like. We’ve lived through the heat dome and summers where the smoke was so thick our kids couldn’t play outside,” said Attorney General Rayfield. “Pollution doesn’t stop at state lines, and power plants are one of the biggest sources of it. The law requires EPA to do something about that. Instead, the Trump Administration is letting the biggest polluters off the hook and leaving families to pay the price.”

The lawsuit asks the court to throw out the repeal and put the protections back in place. Oregon is also putting EPA on notice that it intends to sue over the agency’s long-running failure to limit pollution from existing natural gas power plants.

The rules EPA repealed – adopted in 2024 – required many of the nation’s largest power plants to reduce the carbon pollution they release. Power plants produce about a quarter of the country’s carbon dioxide emissions. Rather than hold them accountable, the Trump Administration wiped out limits for most coal- and gas-fired plants and has proposed ending power plant emission rules altogether.