The facts
On Thursday, a coalition of 21 states - led by New York and including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin - plus the District of Columbia, New York City, Chicago and the city‑county of Denver filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. The suit challenges the EPA’s repeal of a Biden‑era rule that limited greenhouse‑gas emissions from coal‑ and natural‑gas‑fired power plants. Plaintiffs argue the rollback gutts one of the country’s most significant climate protections, will set the nation back decades, and imposes “callous disregard” for health and the environment. The EPA said the repeal would save the industry more than $300 billion and help “unleash” American energy, and it declined to comment on the pending litigation. The coalition is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to review and strike down the repeal, and also intends to sue over the agency’s failure to regulate emissions from many gas‑fired plants.
Our take
The EPA’s latest move feels a bit like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat - except the rabbit is a $300 billion‑sized bag of coal dust, and the audience is the entire nation’s lungs. The administration claims it’s “unleashing” American energy, but the only thing being unleashed looks a lot like a cloud of carbon that could make the Great Smog of London look like a light drizzle. The joke here is that the EPA, which should be the watchdog of clean air, is now acting like a dog‑walker for the fossil‑fuel industry, letting the big dogs run wild while the little pups - our kids, seniors, and anyone with asthma - are left choking on the exhaust. It’s a classic case of profit over planet, and the states are finally saying, Enough with the smoke‑and‑mirrors, we want real air, not just a marketing slogan. The lawsuit isn’t just about a rule; it’s about a principle: that a federal agency can’t just toss climate protections aside because they’re inconvenient for a few CEOs. As New York Attorney General Letitia James put it, the rollback shows a “callous disregard” for public health - a phrase that now reads like a courtroom indictment rather than political rhetoric. If the EPA thinks saving $300 billion is worth the health costs, they’re basically betting the future on a house of cards made of soot. The coalition’s petition to the D.C. Circuit is a reminder that the courts can still act as a check when an agency tries to rewrite the rules of the game in favor of the highest bidder. In the end, the real “unleashing” will be the public’s response when they realize the air they breathe is being sold off like a cheap commodity. And that, dear readers, is a punchline that even the most hardened lobbyist can’t laugh off. **fuck**
