The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced plans to eliminate Biden-era regulations limiting the amount of greenhouse gas pollution released into the atmosphere by fossil fuel–fired power plants, as well as significantly curb limits on the release of toxic chemicals into their air — the most far-reaching change to domestic climate policy yet proposed by the Trump administration.
The new rules, which won't take effect until after a notice and comment period, were needed because the previous Biden and Obama administrations were “regulating coal, oil and gas out of existence,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.
“Together, if finalized, these actions would result in saving over a billion dollars per year,” Zeldin claimed. The rules will “deliver savings to American families on their electricity bills and it will ensure that they have the electricity that they need.”
The moves mark just the latest step in the Trump administration’s widespread changes to U.S. climate policy. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has moved to shutter dozens of climate research offices throughout the government, fire scientists and researchers studying the causes and impacts of climate change, freeze billions of dollars of funding for clean energy and open up millions of previously protected lands for drilling.
But the new changes concern greenhouse gas emission standards first proposed by then-President Barack Obama in his so-called “Clean Power Plan” and later strengthened by President Joe Biden in the “Clean Power Plan 2.0.” Such regulations aren’t needed, Trump’s EPA argues in its new proposal, because pollution from such plants is but a "small and decreasing part of global emissions; cost-effective control measures are not reasonably available; and because this Administration’s priority is to promote the public health or welfare through energy dominance and independence secured by using fossil fuels to generate power.”
Another new proposal concerns “Mercury and Air Toxics Standards” (MATS) that establish acceptable emission levels for hazardous air pollutants like mercury, arsenic and benzene. The Trump EPA’s new proposal opts not to eliminate those rules entirely but rather roll back what Zeldin described as “gratuitous requirements” from the Biden administration, returning to 2015 levels established by the Obama administration.
“If [the rules are] finalized, no power plant will be allowed to emit more than they do today or as much as they did one or two years ago,” Zeldin promised.
Yet the EPA’s new proposals run contrary to decades of past agency action and research. Power plant emissions represent the second-largest source of domestic pollution and about a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to the EPA. Eliminating standards for plant emissions will almost certainly increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a key driver of global warming.
And the toxic chemicals governed by MATS regulations have been linked to severe health risks including asthma, cancer and neurological problems.
Indeed, the EPA had previously estimated that implementing the heightened pollution and chemical standards would save the government upwards of $120 billion over the next 20 years, plus an additional $270 billion in savings by offsetting climate impacts.
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The new proposals, meanwhile, are estimated to save only about $19 billion in compliance costs.
Asked about the cost-benefit analysis underpinning his reasoning given those figures, Zeldin was defiant.
“How do you possibly justify not taking this action?” he told reporters. “The American public demanded it,” he argued, pointing to the 2024 election results.
Congressional Republicans and fossil fuel industry leaders — several of whom joined Zeldin at EPA headquarters for the announcement — celebrated the move, while environmental groups and former EPA officials fiercely denounced it.
“The Trump EPA’s proposed repeal of these life-saving clean air protections is dangerous to the health, safety and well-being of all Americans. The Trump EPA is recklessly disregarding its responsibility under our nation’s clean air laws to protect the American people from mercury, arsenic and climate pollution from industrial smokestacks,” said Vickie Patton, general counsel of Environmental Defense Fund.
“The key rationale Zeldin is using to justify the dismantling of our nation's protections from power plant pollution is absolutely illogical and indefensible. It's a purely political play that goes against decades of science and policy review,” echoed Gina McCarthy, who ran the EPA under President Biden.
Other groups — including the National Resource Defense Council — hinted at possible legal challenges to come.
“Ignoring the immense harm to public health from power plant pollution is a clear violation of the law. Our lawyers will be watching closely, and if the EPA finalizes a slapdash effort to repeal those rules, we'll see them in court,” said NRDC president and CEO Manish Bapna.
When pressed by Scripps News on the administration’s legal footing given possible challenges, Zeldin projected optimism that his agency would be victorious — pointing to recent Supreme Court decisions limiting EPA’s ability to regulate pollution.
“As administrator of EPA on every single decision that I make with regards to anything, whether I say yes or no, someone will probably sue me,” Zeldin added. “It's just comes with the job.”
