On June 3, 2026, Dan Sullivan voted no on taking up a resolution to restore EPA's 2024 limits on mercury and other toxic pollution from power plants, and on August 5, 2026 he voted against restoring the deadline for chemical makers to report where they make and release PFAS, which failed 48 to 50. He voted to confirm Lee Zeldin, whose EPA delayed limits on coal ash and toxic power-plant wastewater and proposed to drop drinking-water limits for several of the "forever chemicals."
Before he was a senator, Sullivan was Alaska's attorney general when a lawsuit challenged the state's permits for Pebble mine exploration in the Bristol Bay watershed. In 2015 the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that the state Department of Natural Resources violated the Alaska Constitution by allowing deep drilling, dynamite blasting, stream-water pumping and other work without public notice.
Dan Sullivan's Votes, Confirmations and Prior Record on Water and Toxic Pollution
- Sullivan Voted Against Restoring Mercury Limits on Power Plants in June 2026. On June 3, 2026, Dan Sullivan voted no on taking up S.J.Res. 188, which would have overturned EPA's repeal of the 2024 mercury and air toxics standards; it failed 46 to 53. On Feb. 20, 2026, EPA finalized its repeal of the Biden administration standards regulating HAPs, returning to the 2012 standards. Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that ends up in the water and soil, builds up in fish, and is most dangerous for pregnant women and young children.
- Sullivan Voted Against Restoring the Deadline for Chemical Makers to Report PFAS in August 2026. On August 5, 2026, Sullivan voted no on taking up S.J.Res. 187, which would have overturned EPA's delay of the rule requiring manufacturers to report information regarding PFAS uses, production volumes, disposal, exposures, and hazards to EPA. It failed 48 to 50, so two more votes would have advanced it. The original submission period was scheduled to begin on November 12, 2024; EPA's 2026 rule starts the data submission period for the PFAS Reporting Rule on January 31, 2027 or later, leaving communities and regulators without data on where the chemicals are made and released.
- Sullivan Voted to Let Major Toxic Air Polluters Escape the Strictest Controls in May 2025. On May 1, 2025, Sullivan voted yes on S.J.Res. 31, which passed 52 to 46 and repealed EPA's 2024 "Once In Always In" rule. On June 20, 2025, Congress repealed the 2024 rule using the Congressional Review Act, so a major source can reclassify as an area source if it reduces its emissions below the threshold and leave the strictest federal controls on hazardous air pollutants behind.
- Sullivan Voted to Confirm the EPA Administrator Who Delayed Coal Ash and Wastewater Limits and Proposed Dropping PFAS Drinking-Water Limits. On January 29, 2025, Sullivan voted to confirm Lee Zeldin as EPA administrator. On Feb. 6, 2026, EPA announced a final rule to delay deadlines for coal ash rules, ash that contains many contaminants, including mercury and arsenic. In December 2025, EPA published a final rule extending compliance deadlines set by the 2024 limits on power-plant wastewater, which carries arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium, chromium, and cadmium; Policy Integrity puts the cost of that delay at $2.2 billion a year in lost net benefits and 112 premature deaths a year. On May 18, 2026, Zeldin's EPA proposed a rule that would rescind Biden-era regulations for PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA, and Hazard Index mixtures in drinking water and delay the limits for PFOA and PFOS; that proposal is not final.
- Sullivan Voted to Confirm the EPA Administrator Whose Agency Illegally Withheld Grants for Polluted Communities. Sullivan voted to confirm Zeldin, whose EPA terminated Community Change and environmental justice grants in 2025. The Government Accountability Office found that EPA violated the ICA when the agency, without submitting a special message to Congress, held back that money, breaking the law that bars withholding funds Congress provided.
- Sullivan Cast One of the 50 Votes for the Law That Took Back Money for Cleaner Air at Schools and in Polluted Neighborhoods. On July 1, 2025, Sullivan voted yes on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed 50 to 50 with the Vice President's vote. The law contains SEC. 60016. RESCISSION OF FUNDING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE JUSTICE BLOCK GRANTS, along with rescissions of money to address air pollution at schools and for diesel emissions reductions from trucks, buses and port equipment.
- Sullivan Was Alaska's Attorney General as the State Defended Pebble Exploration Permits the Alaska Supreme Court Later Found Unconstitutional. In July 2009 a group that came to include 10 Bristol Bay tribal entities, village corporations and individuals sued the Alaska Department of Natural Resources over its permits for exploration at the Pebble mine prospect. Dan Sullivan was newly installed as attorney general when the case was filed and served until just before trial in December 2010, as the state defended the permits. In 2015 the Alaska Supreme Court reversed a 2011 ruling for the state and Pebble and held that the department had violated the Alaska Constitution by allowing deep drilling, dynamite blasting, stream-water pumping and other work without public notice or any finding that it served the public interest. The court ruled that the constitution requires the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to provide public notice before allowing that exploration in the Bristol Bay watershed.
What the Pollution Decisions Dan Sullivan Backed Mean for Alaska's Water and Fish
- Bristol Bay. For more than two decades the state permitted Pebble exploration in the Bristol Bay watershed with no public notice, until the 2015 ruling that the constitution requires the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to provide public notice and weigh the public interest.
- Fish and mercury. The mercury limits Sullivan voted not to restore address a powerful neurotoxin that ends up in the water and soil and builds up in fish.
Frequently Asked Questions About Dan Sullivan on Clean water and pollution
What is Dan Sullivan's record on clean water and pollution under Trump?
Dan Sullivan voted against restoring EPA's 2024 mercury limits on power plants, which failed 46 to 53, and against restoring the PFAS reporting deadline. He voted to let major polluters escape the strictest toxic-air controls, and he voted to confirm Lee Zeldin, whose EPA delayed coal ash and wastewater limits and violated the ICA by withholding community grants. He was Alaska's attorney general while the state defended Pebble exploration permits that the Alaska Supreme Court later ruled unconstitutional.
What did Dan Sullivan do on the Pebble mine as Alaska attorney general?
Dan Sullivan was Alaska's attorney general when Bristol Bay tribes and residents sued over the state's Pebble exploration permits in 2009, and he served until just before it went to trial in December 2010. In 2015 the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that the state had violated the Alaska Constitution by allowing the drilling and blasting without public notice.
Did Dan Sullivan vote on PFAS forever chemicals?
Dan Sullivan voted no on August 5, 2026 on taking up a resolution to restore the deadline for manufacturers to report PFAS information to EPA, and it failed 48 to 50. The reporting was originally due to start in November 2024, and EPA's delay moved the start to January 31, 2027 or later.
Last updated: 2026-10-25