Massachusetts has joined 25 other governments in a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the agency's rollback of power plant regulations, according to a report from This Week in Worcester.

The coalition, comprising state and municipal governments, filed the legal challenge in response to the EPA's decision to unwind rules governing emissions from power plants. Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell's office is representing the Commonwealth in the multi-jurisdiction action.

At stake is the regulatory framework that determines how utilities operating fossil-fueled generation assets must control emissions — a framework that also shapes the economics of coal combustion, one of the largest single sources of coal demand in the United States. Power plant coal consumption has declined for years as gas and renewables have displaced it, and any loosening of federal emissions rules could alter retirement timelines for remaining coal-fired units.

For the recycling and materials recovery sector, the litigation matters indirectly but concretely. Coal combustion residuals — fly ash and bottom ash — feed into supplementary cementitious material supply chains, and scrap processors track utility-sector demand signals that flow through to ferrous and copper markets. A regulatory reversal that extends coal plant operating life would affect ash availability for cement blending, while a court ruling restoring stricter rules would accelerate unit retirements and shift ash supply tighter.

The plaintiffs argue the EPA exceeded its authority and violated administrative procedure requirements in reversing the prior emissions standards. The agency has defended the rollback as reducing compliance costs for generators.

The case now moves into briefing before the federal appellate court, where the coalition of 26 governments will press its claim that the rollback fails to satisfy statutory obligations under the Clean Air Act. A scheduling order and the first round of briefing deadlines will set the timeline that determines whether the loosened rules stay in effect during litigation or are stayed pending review.