Trump administration proposals plan to lift limits on pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants.
The idea is part of the Trump administration's plan to repeal over two dozen EPA rules. Legal challenges are expected, but if approved, it would lift restrictions on the 2nd-largest U.S. source of climate pollution after transportation.
According to the EPA, pollution from US power plants accounts for a minor portion of worldwide emissions, and these emissions are decreasing. The organization further asserts that the health effects of removing climatic pollution from power plants will be negligible.
The Trump administration wants to safeguard the environment and improve the economy, according to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who made the announcement.
Environmental organizations quickly criticized the EPA's move.
EPA restrictions under Biden, requiring coal plants to cut CO₂ emissions from the 2030s, would be repealed. Human-produced CO2 is the main cause of global warming.
In 2009, the EPA deemed greenhouse gases a threat to human health. Fossil fuel companies delayed emission regulations. The Trump administration aims to revoke the 2009 finding to repeal climate laws.
The Trump administration sought to further prioritize fossil fuels and redirect federal policy away from the climate initiatives established under former President Joe Biden.
The Trump administration asserts that a mere three percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions originate from U.S. power plants, a notable decline from the 5.5 percent recorded in 2005, and contends that additional reductions would yield negligible improvements in public health.
The U.S. historically contributes the most to climate pollution, about a quarter now. Obama's 2015 power plant emission rules aimed to inspire global action.
From the start, the U.S. coal industry resisted power plant pollution limits. Despite decades of declining demand, coal's share of power generation fell from 52% in 1990 to 15% in 2023.
In order to fulfill the increased demand for electricity, notably for the growth of data centers for the expanding artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the industry has claimed that coal-fired power is necessary.
Morrisey oversaw the ten-year push to repeal climate pollution rules on power plants while serving as the former attorney general of that coal-producing state.
In April, Trump signed orders to boost coal mining on public lands, exempt aging coal plants from pollution limits for two years, and keep them running to revive the struggling coal sector and power data centers. During his first term, he tried but failed to save specific coal plants as operators switched to gas-fired plants.
The Biden administration's power plant regulations were designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, in alignment with the Paris Climate Accord, to mitigate the impacts of climate change. In contrast, the Trump administration's proposed regulations would distance the United States from this objective.
The EPA proposed relaxing a regulation established under the Biden administration that mandates power plants to reduce emissions of pollutants such as mercury, a neurotoxin known to impair childhood neurological development. Coal-fired power plants remain the primary source of mercury emissions in the United States.