The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has repealed most of the Biden administration’s 2024 “Carbon Pollution Standards, Greenhouse Gas Requirements for Coal- and Gas-fired Power Plants,” which is expected to save $310.4 billion over 20 years, lower electricity prices, and increase coal production. The decision would remove requirements that future and existing fossil fuel power plants implement carbon dioxide emissions-reduction technologies that do not exist commercially. The EPA also has proposed rescinding all remaining greenhouse gas standards for power plants and a separate measure that could prevent future administrations from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
According to industry groups, the rollback will help preserve coal-fired power plants, protect grid reliability and prevent higher costs amid rising demand from increased electrification, data centers and advanced manufacturing. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced the rule changes at a G20 ministerial meeting on “energy abundance” in Houston. EPA will hold a public hearing for the proposal 15 days after publication of the action in the Federal Register as well as a 45-day public comment period. The rule is expected to be challenged in court.
The separate rule EPA proposed concludes emissions from fossil-fuel power plants do not contribute significantly to air pollution, potentially preventing future administrations from imposing similar regulations under the Clean Air Act. For more than a decade under the Obama and Biden administrations, the EPA had relied on Section 111 of the Clean Air Act as the legal baseline for regulations on U.S. power sector emissions. The EPA no longer believes Section 111 gives it authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. If the Trump administration’s proposed changes stand and are upheld in court, a significant portion of federal legislation on the issue would no longer apply.
According to Michelle Bloodworth, president and CEO of America’s Power, the Biden-era rule would have forced coal plants to close, worsening the risk of electricity shortages as electricity demand from data centers, artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, and industrial growth increases. Preserving existing coal plants would improve grid reliability, keep electricity prices down, and strengthen U.S. energy security and economic competitiveness.
Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, indicated that the Trump rule “has averted what would have been a catastrophic collision of unlawful and unworkable Biden-era technology mandates with surging energy demands.” “With today’s repeal, well-operating coal plants are no longer faced with the false choice between commercially unavailable and technically infeasible technologies, fuel-switching, or closure. The administration’s action corrects the egregious misuse of the Clean Air Act as a political tool to end American coal generation and implements the law as Congress intended.”
Environmental groups are likely to challenge the rules, particularly the separate rule that could prevent future administrations from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The proposal, expected to be made final next year, follows on EPA’s action earlier this year revoking the endangerment finding that has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Obama and Biden administrations.
Background
During the Obama and Biden administrations, the EPA overtly tried to force coal plants out of existence through regulatory authority and Section 111 of the Clean Air Act to cut greenhouse gas emissions. This approach followed Congress’s failure to pass “cap and trade” (or “cap and tax,” as it was called). The strategy’s backbone was the endangerment finding — a 2009 decision by the Obama EPA stating that six greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare — which the Obama administration made in response to the Supreme Court’s direction in Massachusetts v. EPA. It served as the foundation for federal rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles and power plants under the two administrations.
In June 2024, the Supreme Court, in Loper Bright v. Raimondo Enterprises, reversed the Chevron Deference doctrine that had allowed the EPA and other federal agencies to redefine the language of federal laws to fit their regulatory agendas. The Trump EPA followed early this year by reversing the Obama-era greenhouse gas endangerment finding, removing the foundation for Obama and Biden efforts to prevent the construction of new coal plants.
The final rule strikes most of the Biden-era 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards, which exceeded the EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act by requiring control technologies (Carbon Capture and Sequestration technologies) that are not adequately demonstrated, effectively forcing plants to retire rather than setting standards they could actually meet. The Trump EPA notes that manipulation in the 2024 rule created inefficient uses of natural gas, adversely impacted the nation’s energy systems, and drove electricity prices up. Consumers have noticed significant electricity cost increases as existing generating units closed and were replaced mostly with new builds of Biden’s politically approved intermittent wind and solar plants.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin indicated that Biden-era actions were designed to “suffocate our economy in order to protect the environment,” with the intent to regulate the coal industry “out of existence” and make it “disappear.”
Conclusion
The Trump EPA repealed most of Biden’s 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards, which restrict greenhouse gas emissions from coal and natural gas power plants and are expected to save $310.4 billion over 20 years, lower electricity prices, and increase coal production. The 2024 rule created inefficient uses of natural gas, adversely impacted the nation’s energy systems, and drove up electricity prices. In a separate rule, the Trump EPA is proposing to prevent future administrations from imposing similar regulations under the Clean Air Act by concluding that emissions from fossil-fuel power plants do not contribute significantly to air pollution. Earlier this year, the Trump EPA reversed the Obama-era greenhouse gas endangerment finding, removing the foundation for the Obama and Biden efforts to prevent the building of new coal plants.
