US scraps limits on emissions from coal and gas power plants

The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Monday that it will eliminate most of the climate regulations imposed on coal and natural‑gas power plants during President Joe Biden’s administration, a move the agency claims will save the United States about $310 billion and lower energy costs for consumers. EPA head Lee Zeldin framed the rollback as a correction of overreach, saying the previous rules demanded “control technologies that are not adequately demonstrated,” effectively forcing plants to shut down rather than meet attainable standards. The agency also said it will strip away all remaining greenhouse‑gas rules for the power sector, while maintaining safeguards against hazardous air pollutants, and it warned that any public‑health benefits of the discarded rules are “too uncertain, conjectural, remote, and convoluted to tie specifically to the US power sector.”

Environmental groups and climate experts warned that the deregulation will jeopardize public health and accelerate climate change. Nathaniel Keohane, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, called the decision “a giant step backward,” arguing that the EPA is ignoring sound science and abandoning its duty to protect health and welfare. The Biden‑era standards were projected to prevent roughly 4,500 premature deaths each year and to curb emissions from a sector that accounts for about a quarter of U.S. greenhouse‑gas output—approximately 1.5 billion tonnes of CO₂‑equivalent annually, making the power sector one of the world’s largest emitters. Critics note that while U.S. power‑sector emissions have generally declined over recent decades, the rollback could halt that trend, even as the cost of clean technologies like solar continues to fall sharply.

The announcement is expected to trigger immediate legal challenges, building on a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that limited the EPA’s authority to regulate emissions across whole states after a coalition of 19 states and major coal companies successfully contested earlier limits. The Trump administration has already reversed an Obama‑era scientific finding that greenhouse gases threaten public health, a move currently under scrutiny by several states and local governments. As the EPA proceeds with public review of the new rules, the broader impact on U.S. emissions and global climate trajectories remains uncertain, with researchers questioning whether a resurgence of coal power—long championed by Trump—can materialize amid rapidly declining renewable‑energy costs.

⚡ Effects Interpreter