The Trump administration's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has removed all regulations that capped greenhouse gas emissions from coal and natural gas power plants. Climate scientists and activists state this action will negatively impact public health and accelerate climate change. The original regulations required these plants to capture 90 percent of their greenhouse gas emissions.
This regulatory rollback, initially proposed over a year ago, is part of a broader deregulation effort the EPA claims will save $310 billion. In contrast, climate scientists and the EPA under the Biden administration asserted that emission controls would save tens of billions through public health benefits.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin stated, "For over 15 years, the Obama and Biden administrations implemented a war on coal to destroy reliable and affordable energy. The Trump Administration has come in to protect American energy and to make sure you can afford to keep the lights on." He added, "Americans will see a decrease in electricity prices, but this is just the beginning. We are working to go even further so that American energy can be fully unleashed. Realizing the full potential of American energy means more jobs, lower prices, and a more prosperous America."
While Zeldin acknowledged during his Senate confirmation hearing that greenhouse gases trap heat and contribute to climate change, his agency has focused on dismantling emission standards. This included reversing the "endangerment finding" in February, a rule based on a 2009 report concluding that six greenhouse gases endangered American health and welfare due to their climate impact. This followed a Supreme Court ruling granting the EPA authority to regulate greenhouse gases as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
"Everything Lee Zeldin is doing is contrary to the science," commented Rachel Cleetus, senior policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Cleetus noted that the removal of regulations for fossil-fuel power plants had been anticipated, given the administration's stance on climate change, which the President has called a "hoax" and its harmful effects alarmism.
"I know the administration has in the past made fallacious arguments, faulty arguments about the significance, but these are very significant contributors to global heat-trapping emissions," Cleetus said. She pointed to a recent UN statement that exceeding the 1.5-degree-Celsius global warming target from the Paris Agreement—from which the U.S. withdrew under Trump—is now unavoidable. "That is a very sobering scientific context for this announcement."
According to the EPA's website, power plants are the largest single source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Although emissions from these plants had been declining since 2011, they still contributed over 1.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide and other emissions in 2023. Transportation remains the largest overall source of U.S. emissions. Following the revocation of the endangerment finding, the Trump administration had already repealed prior regulations on greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency standards from the Biden administration.
Eliminating regulations for transportation and power plants, along with the endangerment finding, could make it challenging for future administrations to enact similar rules without new congressional legislation or amendments to the Clean Air Act.
Meredith Hankins, federal climate legal director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, stated, "With millions of Americans facing wildfires, heat waves and deadly storms fueled by climate change, the Trump administration is cutting the biggest polluters loose to do more damage than ever. For the health of our families and good of our nation, this cannot stand. Ignoring the immense harm to the public from this power plant pollution is a clear violation of the Clean Air Act and of Supreme Court precedent. We will be seeing them in court."
English Translation:
The Trump administration's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has removed all regulations that capped greenhouse gas emissions from coal and natural gas power plants. Climate scientists and activists state this action will negatively impact public health and accelerate climate change. The original regulations required these plants to capture 90 percent of their greenhouse gas emissions.
This regulatory rollback, initially proposed over a year ago, is part of a broader deregulation effort the EPA claims will save $310 billion. In contrast, climate scientists and the EPA under the Biden administration asserted that emission controls would save tens of billions through public health benefits.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin stated, "For over 15 years, the Obama and Biden administrations implemented a war on coal to destroy reliable and affordable energy. The Trump Administration has come in to protect American energy and to make sure you can afford to keep the lights on." He added, "Americans will see a decrease in electricity prices, but this is just the beginning. We are working to go even further so that American energy can be fully unleashed. Realizing the full potential of American energy means more jobs, lower prices, and a more prosperous America."
While Zeldin acknowledged during his Senate confirmation hearing that greenhouse gases trap heat and contribute to climate change, his agency has focused on dismantling emission standards. This included reversing the "endangerment finding" in February, a rule based on a 2009 report concluding that six greenhouse gases endangered American health and welfare due to their climate impact. This followed a Supreme Court ruling granting the EPA authority to regulate greenhouse gases as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
"Everything Lee Zeldin is doing is contrary to the science," commented Rachel Cleetus, senior policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Cleetus noted that the removal of regulations for fossil-fuel power plants had been anticipated, given the administration's stance on climate change, which the President has called a "hoax" and its harmful effects alarmism.
"I know the administration has in the past made fallacious arguments, faulty arguments about the significance, but these are very significant contributors to global heat-trapping emissions," Cleetus said. She pointed to a recent UN statement that exceeding the 1.5-degree-Celsius global warming target from the Paris Agreement—from which the U.S. withdrew under Trump—is now unavoidable. "That is a very sobering scientific context for this announcement."
According to the EPA's website, power plants are the largest single source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Although emissions from these plants had been declining since 2011, they still contributed over 1.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide and other emissions in 2023. Transportation remains the largest overall source of U.S. emissions. Following the revocation of the endangerment finding, the Trump administration had already repealed prior regulations on greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency standards from the Biden administration.
Eliminating regulations for transportation and power plants, along with the endangerment finding, could make it challenging for future administrations to enact similar rules without new congressional legislation or amendments to the Clean Air Act.
Meredith Hankins, federal climate legal director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, stated, "With millions of Americans facing wildfires, heat waves and deadly storms fueled by climate change, the Trump administration is cutting the biggest polluters loose to do more damage than ever. For the health of our families and good of our nation, this cannot stand. Ignoring the immense harm to the public from this power plant pollution is a clear violation of the Clean Air Act and of Supreme Court precedent. We will be seeing them in court."
