EPA to Rescind Power Plant Carbon Standards — SkimNews
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- EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is expected to formally rescind carbon pollution standards for fossil fuel power plants on Monday, according to multiple media reports.
- The Trump administration's EPA has rolled back multiple greenhouse gas regulations since January 2025, including a September 2025 proposal to end the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program that covers over 8,000 facilities and suppliers.
- Climate Mayors, C40 Cities, and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School stated in an August 7, 2025 letter that power plant GHG emissions cause costly fiscal and public health impacts in U.S. cities and that the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards protect infrastructure and public health.
- Twelve cities and counties joined a coalition of 24 states in a March lawsuit challenging EPA's repeal of its 2009 endangerment finding, while 21 states and local governments filed a separate suit challenging the repeal of the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule and the rollback of real-time continuous emissions monitoring.
- EPA estimated repealing emission guidelines and carbon capture requirements would save the power sector about $1.2 billion per year, and repealing 2024 mercury amendments would save about $120 million annually.
- The Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU Law noted that when EPA issued the standards in May 2024, the agency found they would deliver $370 billion in net benefits over two decades — and that the Supreme Court has made clear EPA has an obligation to control GHG emissions from power plants under the Clean Air Act.
Why it matters: EPA's own 2024 analysis found the carbon standards would deliver $370 billion in net benefits over two decades — dwarfing the agency's claimed $1.2 billion-per-year savings from repeal. With the underlying endangerment finding already under legal challenge and a Supreme Court precedent requiring EPA to regulate power plant emissions, the rescission sets up a high-stakes fight over whether future administrations can revive power-sector climate rules.
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