The lawsuit, filed March 31, 2026, targets the administration's rollback of the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule, which implemented nationwide limits on toxic air pollutants including mercury, arsenic, lead, hydrogen chloride and formaldehyde. The Trump administration reverted to outdated standards last month, allowing increased emissions of these hazardous pollutants.
Attorney General Tong and the coalition argue that the Environmental Protection Agency's repeal is unlawful because the agency failed to provide adequate justification and did not properly consider technological advances in pollution control when reverting to the older standards.
Mercury is particularly dangerous to pregnant women and children, potentially causing lifelong developmental harm, neurological disorders, seizures, and vision and hearing loss. The emissions can travel long distances beyond their emission sources, affecting communities far from the original power plants.
Mercury emissions from power plants also contribute significantly to contamination in U.S. waterways, harming commercial fishing economies and tribal communities that depend on fishing for subsistence.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison led the multistate coalition, which includes attorneys general from Arizona, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. The cities of Chicago and New York and Harris County, Texas also joined the challenge.
The attorneys general are seeking a court determination that the rollback is unlawful and must be reversed. Assistant Attorney General Scott Koschwitz and Deputy Associate Attorney General Matthew Levine, Chief of the Environment Section, are representing Connecticut in the matter.