Electric co-ops urge EPA repeal of gas plant emissions rule — SkimNews
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- Electric cooperative CEOs called on the federal government this week to repeal the EPA's 2024 greenhouse gas standards for gas-fired power plants, saying the rule is hampering their ability to meet surging electricity demand from large-load data centers.
- The EPA rule uses a 40% capacity factor threshold—plants exceeding it must meet CO2 standards based on combined cycle combustion and install carbon capture technology to capture 90% of emissions by 2032, according to law firm Holland and Hart.
- National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson called the 40% threshold and carbon capture mandate "untenable," said his trade group supports the Trump administration's full repeal efforts, and expressed anxiety about stalled progress at OMB.
- EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin proposed repealing all power sector greenhouse gas standards in June 2025, and a "Carbon Pollution Standards Repeal" rule reached OMB in May—but the 90-day review deadline passed earlier this month without action.
- Oglethorpe Power Corp. CEO Annalisa Bloodworth labeled the rule "deeply flawed" and "the most irrational environmental regulation I've personally encountered," while co-op leaders on the call collectively represent about 60% of the US cooperative family.
- Basin Electric CEO Todd Brickhouse said renewables make up 30% of his portfolio but argued data centers' 95–100% load factor (24/7/365) can't be reliably served by wind turbines that only achieve 40% capacity factors, making combined cycle gas essential for reliability.
Why it matters: Cooperative leaders representing 60% of the US co-op family say the 90-day OMB review deadline has lapsed with no action, leaving repeal in limbo as data center demand surges and the 2032 carbon capture mandate looms. A full repeal would clear the path for new combined cycle gas generation that co-ops argue is essential for 24/7 reliability—and that carbon capture, which Matheson calls commercially unviable, currently blocks.
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