March 31, 2026 - Kentucky environmental advocates are among a coalition suing to block President Donald Trump's administration from loosening regulations on harmful air emissions from power plants, including neurotoxic metals like mercury and lead.

The petition, filed March 30 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, was brought by an array of environmental groups in addition to health-focused organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Lung Association and American Public Health Association. The groups are also challenging a rollback in emissions monitoring requirements, and said the agency's reversal "abandons safeguards that protect communities living near coal plants and downwind of their pollution."

"This dangerous repeal of protections is a giveaway to coal plants, allowing them to emit more neurotoxic mercury into our air while keeping vulnerable communities in the dark about what pollution is coming from smokestacks," said Ashley Wilmes, executive director of the Kentucky Resources Council, in a statement. The group is represented in the filing by Earthjustice.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in February said it would reverse strict emissions standards on power plants issued under President Joe Biden's administration, The Courier Journal previously reported. Those rules were projected to cut down on thousands of pounds of mercury and other metals, including carcinogens and neurotoxins, in addition to fine particulate matter, known colloquially as soot.

Instead, the Trump administration is returning to the original, Obama-era standards, which were less stringent but drove sharp a reduction in toxic emissions from coal plants in Kentucky and across the country more than a decade ago.

EPA second-in-command David Fotouhi announced the agency's action in February from the grounds of LG&E's towering coal-fired generating station, in southwest Jefferson County. He said the rollback would free the coal industry from what he described as overly burdensome environmental rules levied by the previous administration.

Coal industry groups, including the Kentucky Coal Association and America's Power, supported the EPA's deregulatory action and were on hand for the February announcement along with Kentucky officials and representatives of LG&E and KU. U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, a Republican who is running for the seat of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, said the repeal would lower costs of living for Americans and ensure enough firm power supply to "win the race for AI."

A Biden EPA analysis found its new, more stringent standards would not have brought significant changes in electricity prices or forced coal-fired units to retire, an assessment that the Trump EPA has rejected.

"In keeping with a longstanding practice, EPA does not comment on current or pending litigation," the agency said in a statement to The Courier Journal.

Loosened protections against power plant emissions could impose disproportionate health risks in coal-reliant regions, including Kentucky — one of the last places in the country that still mines a significant amount of coal and still uses coal to generate a large portion of its electricity.

Nine Kentucky power plants reported mercury emissions in 2024, the most recent year of EPA data. More than 30,000 people live within three miles of those plants.

Mercury exposure in humans, which can affect the brain, cardiovascular and nervous systems, often occurs through consumption of contaminated fish and shellfish. Emissions of mercury from coal-fired power plants can settle in rivers and streams, where it may accumulate in fish tissue.

When the Obama-era standards were first installed roughly a decade ago, research indicated Jefferson County likely saw reduced premature deaths due to reductions in particulate matter, in addition to fewer asthma exacerbations, emergency department visits and lost work days. The expanded, Biden-era protections were expected to improve upon those outcomes.

"The repeal of these protections will mean more asthma attacks, emergency room visits, and premature deaths," the petitioning groups said in a statement. The allowance of toxic emissions, and insufficient monitoring of those emissions, amounts to "a betrayal of the EPA's core mission," the groups said.