The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to repeal rules that limit planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, a move that Administrator Lee Zeldin has said would remove billions of dollars in costs for the industry and help “unleash” American energy. The rule change, proposed last year, represents a fundamental shift from efforts by Democratic Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama to address climate change.
The rule, which is expected to face immediate legal challenges, could also prevent future administrations from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. These rollbacks are intended to fulfill Republican President Donald Trump’s pledge to “unleash American energy” and make it easier for utilities to supply electricity. The plan to make the rule final was first reported by The New York Times.
The power plant rule is among nearly three dozen environmental regulations that Zeldin targeted in early 2025 when he announced what he called the “most consequential day of deregulation in American history.” Zeldin stated that the proposed rules were meant to end the Biden and Obama administrations’ “war on so much of our U.S. domestic energy supply.”
Environmental and public health groups have voiced opposition, calling the rollbacks dangerous and vowing to challenge the rules in court. Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, stated, “Tearing down our national protections against climate pollution from power plants will have enormous costs for the health, safety and well-being of families across the country.”
Coal, gas, and oil-fired power plants are responsible for approximately one-quarter of the nation’s total climate pollution, second only to the transportation sector. Pollution from these plants is a significant contributor to global warming. According to an Associated Press examination last year, the targeted rules could have prevented an estimated 30,000 deaths and saved $275 billion annually. The dismantling of these rules could also lead to increased pollutants such as smog, mercury, and lead, as well as higher greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the strict EPA rule issued in 2024, coal-fired power plants would have been required to capture smokestack emissions or shut down. These rules are now being upended. In its proposal last year, the Trump EPA argued that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from fossil fuel-fired power plants “do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution” or climate change, and therefore do not meet the Clean Air Act threshold for regulatory action. The agency also stated that greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas-fired plants represent “a small and decreasing part of global emissions.” Zeldin, a Republican and former New York congressman, contended that the Biden-era rules were designed to “suffocate our economy in order to protect the environment” and intended to regulate the coal industry out of existence.