EPA moves to rescind power plant carbon rules — SkimNews
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- EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is expected to formally rescind carbon pollution standards for fossil fuel power plants today, according to multiple media reports.
- The repeal would complete the Trump administration's elimination of Obama- and Biden-era climate policies and could prevent future administrations from regulating power plant greenhouse gas emissions, per The New York Times.
- Climate Mayors, C40 Cities, and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School opposed the repeal — first proposed in June 2025 — warning in an Aug. 7 letter that power plant GHG emissions impose costly fiscal and public health impacts on U.S. cities.
- EPA estimates repealing emission guidelines and carbon capture requirements would save the power sector about $1.2 billion annually, with an additional $120 million saved from repealing 2024 amendments to mercury emissions standards.
- The Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law noted that when EPA issued the standards in May 2024, the agency itself found they would deliver $370 billion in net benefits over two decades.
- Dena Adler, senior attorney at the Institute for Policy Integrity, said the move "ignores the Supreme Court, puts the public at risk, and flagrantly violates EPA's legal responsibilities" under the Clean Air Act.
- Environmental lawsuits already in motion include 12 cities and counties joining 24 states in March to challenge EPA's repeal of the 2009 endangerment finding, alongside a separate 21-state suit over the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rollback.
Why it matters: This repeal strips federal greenhouse gas oversight of the second-largest U.S. emissions sector and forecloses future regulatory pathways, despite the EPA's own 2024 finding of $370 billion in net benefits over two decades. With 24 states and 12 cities already in court, the fight shifts to judges — while the power sector skips an estimated $1.2 billion in annual compliance costs.
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