The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday finalized the repeal of CO2 emissions standards for coal- and natural gas-fired power plants, while proposing to roll back remaining greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for power plants.
"Today we are repealing the majority of the burdensome 2024 requirements so that Americans can benefit from our nation's full energy potential," EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said during a meeting of energy ministers from G20 countries in Houston.
"But we aren't just stopping with the Biden administration's overreach. We are also proposing to rescind all remaining greenhouse gas emissions standards for power plants — all of them," Zeldin said, arguing these moves will help save consumers a projected $310bn from 2026-2047.
EPA's latest action will repeal a rule that set CO2 emissions standards for existing and new coal-fired units, as well as new natural gas-fired power plants. The agency under former president Joe Biden finalized the standards in April 2024, which were designed to promote the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to reduce emissions. The rule was designed to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants by 90pc.
The repeal of the 2024 CO2 emissions standards will go into effect 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register.
In addition, EPA today released a new proposed rule designed to supplement EPA's earlier repeal of the landmark 2009 endangerment finding, which had underpinned a number of federal climate regulations. The proposal argues that the agency does not have the authority under the federal Clean Air Act to regulate power plant CO2 emissions in response to concerns for global climate change. Instead, the Clean Air Act only gives EPA the power to regulate emissions that threaten local or regional public health and welfare, the proposal said.
In addition, the proposal says that power plant GHG emissions do not significantly contribute to air pollution, since even the complete elimination of US power sector emissions would have a minimal impact on the effects of global climate change.
The proposal is expected to save $370mn in direct compliance costs, Zeldin said.
EPA will accept public comment on the proposal for 45 days.
The proposal does not affect power plant regulations dealing with conventional pollutants, such as ground-level ozone and particulate matter.
Coal state leaders and industry trade groups, including America's Power, which represents the US coal fleet, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, praised the latest EPA action.
"This bold action will drive down costs, helping everyone in America, and will ensure that the energy produced in this country is affordable, plentiful, secure and environmentally responsible for everyone," said West Virginia attorney general John McCuskey (R).
EPA under president Donald Trump has worked to revisit and roll back a slew of environmental regulations.
The agency proposed to repeal the CO2 standards in June 2025, saying that the proposal would help the economy, lift restrictions on domestic energy supply and save more than $1bn/yr for families. The proposal was sent to the White House for interagency review in February, the last step before a formal end to the CO2 emissions standards.
Rescinding the rule "removes a very expensive, technically uncertain obligation" for power plants to use CCS technology to limit CO2 emissions, according to Scott Segal, co-chair of Bracewell's Policy Resolution Group.
"While CCS is a promising technology, at scale for coal units it was never commercially proven at the required cost and timeline," Segal said. "And few issues resonate as much currently as affordability and reliability of power."
Environmental group the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) said it plans to file suit to block the repeal of the power plant CO2 standards.
Other environmental groups and lawmakers criticized the move. The repeal "of power plant pollution rules is a complete sham", said Maggi Coulter, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate Law Institute. "This is a transparent giveaway to fossil fuel polluters, and the courts should see it that way."
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said that "in refusing to address this national crisis, EPA is shifting the costs of climate change onto every family in America".
