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The Trump administration is rolling back Biden-era regulations that would have tightened emissions restrictions on coal and gas power plants and forced hundreds of existing coal plants to shutter in the coming years.
In an announcement Wednesday afternoon, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said his agency will repeal both greenhouse gas emissions standards targeting the power sector and so-called Mercury and Air Toxics Standards that apply to coal-fired power plants. According to the EPA, the regulations raise the cost of living for Americans, threaten grid reliability, and limit “American energy prosperity.”
The agency projected its actions will save the American power sector more than $1.2 billion a year in regulatory compliance costs over the next two decades. It also said the actions will ensure that existing gas and coal power plants—dozens of which are scheduled to be retired this year alone—will remain in operation.
The EPA’s actions are the latest—and perhaps most significant—rejection of the Biden-era climate agenda. The previous administration sought to crack down on the fossil fuel power sector to achieve its goal of having a completely carbon-free U.S. power grid by 2035.
The actions also represent a fulfillment of one of President Donald Trump’s central energy-related campaign promises. The president accused the Biden administration last year of pursuing “a regulatory jihad to shut down power plants all across America.”
