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EPA Set to Repeal Carbon Standards for Coal and Gas Power Plants
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EPA Move to Repeal Power Plant Emission Standards
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to formally rescind carbon-pollution standards for fossil-fuel-fired power plants on or before September 14. Two sources familiar with the proposal say the final rule will be announced during a Group of 20 energy-minister meeting in Houston, Texas. The same sources note that the change is likely to trigger immediate legal challenges and could limit future administrations’ ability to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants. The agency did not respond to requests for comment outside business hours on September 13.
Background of Federal Power Plant Regulations
The pending repeal targets standards adopted under President Joe Biden that required existing and future coal and natural-gas plants to install emissions-reduction technologies such as carbon capture and storage. Those rules built on earlier efforts by Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden to curb power-sector climate pollution. The Obama-era Clean Power Plan was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2022, and a Trump-era replacement rule was later invalidated by a separate court ruling. The Biden administration’s 2024 rules mandated that the nation’s coal fleet capture most of its carbon emissions by 2039 or retire.
Scale of Power Plant Emissions
According to analysis by the New York University School of Law’s Institute for Policy Integrity, U.S. power plants constitute the nation’s largest industrial source of greenhouse gases and would rank as the world’s sixth-largest emitter if treated as a separate country.
Official Statements & Administration Rationale
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has said that eliminating the rules would remove “billions of dollars in costs” for the industry and help “unleash” American energy. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright are co-hosting the G20 meeting where the announcement is expected, signaling the administration’s emphasis on “energy abundance.”
Upcoming Announcement and Potential Legal Action
The rule is slated for release alongside the G20 energy-abundance ministerial meeting in Houston. Legal experts anticipate that environmental groups and states will file lawsuits challenging the repeal, citing the rule’s potential to curtail future regulatory authority. The EPA’s lack of comment as of September 13 underscores the administration’s intent to move forward without public clarification.