S. 5409 — Environmental Health Restoration Act of 2026

This section states congressional findings that the Environmental Protection Agency has advanced dozens of deregulatory actions since January 2025 weakening Clean Air Act protections for power plants, vehicles, methane, hazardous air pollutants, greenhouse gas reporting, and environmental justice programs. It further finds that these actions include repealing the section 202(a) endangerment finding for greenhouse gases, reducing enforcement, dismantling scientific advisory bodies, and conflicting with state implementation plans.

This section requires the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator to reinstate within 60 days of enactment all regulations, guidance, and enforcement programs in effect on January 19, 2025, covering greenhouse gas emissions from electric generating units, methane and volatile organic compound emissions from oil and gas sources, mercury and air toxics standards, the greenhouse gas reporting program, national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants, national ambient air quality standards for PM2.5, and vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles. It prohibits the President, the Administrator, or any other federal official from delaying, suspending, repealing, weakening, or exempting these rules unless authorized by Congress.

This section directs the Administrator to reconstitute and fully staff the Science Advisory Board and the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee within 45 days after enactment, with no members associated with regulated industries in a financial or advisory role. It requires all regulatory decisions to be based on peer-reviewed science. It also requires restoring the social cost of carbon in greenhouse gas rulemakings at a 2 percent discount rate and a value of $190 per metric ton in 2020 dollars within 60 days after enactment.

This section requires the Environmental Protection Agency to maintain sufficient funding and personnel for civil and criminal enforcement of the programs described in section 3(a). It directs the Administrator to submit an annual report to Congress detailing inspections, violations, penalties assessed, and corrective actions under all environmental laws administered by the agency. It authorizes appropriations of $10,993,653,000 for fiscal year 2027 and each year thereafter, adjusted annually for inflation, in addition to amounts authorized under other law.

This section directs the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator to restore and expand environmental justice programs eliminated or defunded after January 19, 2025, within 60 days of enactment. It requires prioritization of monitoring, permitting oversight, and enforcement in communities experiencing disproportionate pollution burdens. It mandates public health impact assessments for air or water quality rulemakings, regulatory actions, and enforcement policies, evaluating effects on mortality, respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, and cumulative exposure burdens. It requires incorporating cumulative impacts analysis into regulatory and permitting decisions and annual publication of reports on pollution trends, enforcement actions, and progress reducing health disparities.

This section establishes a private cause of action authorizing any person adversely affected by the Administrator's failure to comply with the Act to sue in an appropriate U.S. district court. The court may compel compliance and award reasonable attorney's fees if the action succeeds.

This section preserves the authority of States to adopt or enforce environmental standards more protective than similar federal standards. It also maintains the rights of persons, classes of persons, and States to petition the Administrator for non-discretionary actions under federal law and to pursue common law nuisance claims.