The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to formally repeal carbon pollution standards for coal- and gas-fired power plants under the Trump administration. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is expected to announce the move in Houston during the G20 energy ministers’ meeting. The rollback would reverse Biden-era rules designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and could face legal challenges.
Key Overview
- Agency: US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- Expected action: Repeal of carbon pollution standards for coal- and gas-fired power plants
- EPA administrator: Lee Zeldin
- Previous rules: Finalised by the Biden administration in 2024
- Projected impact of Biden rules: 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions reduced by 2047
- Major concern: Potential legal challenges and limits on future administrations’ ability to regulate climate emissions
- Power sector: Responsible for nearly a quarter of US greenhouse gas pollution
US EPA Set to Roll Back Power Plant Carbon Standards
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is poised to formally repeal carbon pollution standards for coal- and gas-fired power plants, according to reports, in the latest climate policy rollback under President Donald Trump’s administration.
The move is expected as soon as Monday on the sidelines of the G20 energy ministers’ meeting in Houston, Texas, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is expected to announce the move, which would remove pollution standards targeting planet-heating emissions from oil and gas burning.
The planned rollback is expected to face legal challenges. If it survives those challenges, the repeal could also reduce the ability of future administrations to control climate emissions through similar regulations.
Environmental groups have already condemned the expected action.
“The Sierra Club will fight back against this reckless and dangerous proposal with everything we have in the courts, in Congress, and in communities across the country,” said Holly Bender, the Sierra Club’s chief program officer.
She said the administration was allowing the fossil fuel industry to continue polluting while communities face wildfires, floods and rising electricity bills and insurance premiums.
EPA Moves to Reverse Biden-Era Power Plant Rules
Last year, the Trump administration proposed repealing rules introduced under former President Joe Biden to curb emissions of carbon dioxide, mercury and other air pollutants from power plants.
The EPA is now finalising part of that initial proposal. Agency officials are also expected to propose a separate rule repealing the federal finding that greenhouse gas emissions from power plants specifically pose a threat.
The EPA did not respond to a request for comment outside business hours.
Biden’s carbon emission rules for power plants were designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1bn metric tons by 2047, making them a major part of his administration’s climate strategy.
The Biden EPA finalised its power plant rules in 2024. Under the rules, the existing fleet of coal plants would have been required to capture most of their carbon emissions by 2039 or close.
That rule is now being targeted for repeal.
Trump Administration Targets Environmental Regulations
Trump has long supported policies promoting the interests of the oil and gas industry and has increased efforts during his second term to remove environmental regulations that his administration argues create unnecessary barriers to industrial development and expanded energy production.
The planned power plant rollback is part of a broader deregulation effort.
The rule was among nearly three dozen environmental regulations targeted by Zeldin in early 2025, when he described the initiative as the “most consequential day of deregulation in American history.”
Zeldin said last year that the proposed rules were intended to end what he described as the Biden and Obama administrations’ “war on so much of our U.S. domestic energy supply.”
The administration has repeatedly linked the rollbacks to Trump’s pledge to “unleash American energy” and make it easier for utilities to supply electricity to homes and businesses.
Power Plants Remain Major Source of US Emissions
Power plants are the largest industrial source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
The electricity sector accounts for nearly a quarter of US greenhouse gas pollution.
An analysis of 2022 emissions data by New York University School of Law’s Institute for Policy Integrity found that if the US power sector were considered a country by itself, it would rank as the world’s sixth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
The potential repeal therefore has significant implications for US climate policy.
Climate advocates and experts have described the administration’s regulatory rollbacks as benefiting polluters at the expense of the planet, public health and economic wellbeing.
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From Obama’s Clean Power Plan to Biden’s Rules
The EPA’s current power plant regulations follow earlier attempts by successive administrations to regulate emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants.
Under the Obama administration, the EPA finalised the Clean Power Plan, which required existing and future fossil fuel-fired power plants to reduce their climate pollution for the first time.
The Supreme Court struck down the Clean Power Plan in 2022, while a separate court ruling struck down the replacement rule introduced during Trump’s first administration.
The Biden administration subsequently finalised its own power plant rules in 2024.
The current Trump administration is now moving to repeal those Biden-era requirements.
US Withdraws Again From Paris Climate Accord
The expected EPA rollback comes alongside broader changes in US climate policy under Trump.
Trump has called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” and his administration withdrew the United States for a second time from the 2015 Paris climate accord, which establishes voluntary goals for reducing planet-warming emissions.
At the same time, Trump has promoted US energy abundance as global fuel markets remain disrupted by the Iran war.
Gasoline prices have risen above $4.31 a gallon, more than a dollar higher than a year earlier, according to the source.
Outlook
The EPA’s expected repeal would mark a significant reversal of the Biden administration’s approach to regulating carbon emissions from US power plants.
The Biden rules were projected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1 billion metric tons by 2047, while the electricity sector remains responsible for nearly a quarter of US greenhouse gas pollution.
The repeal is likely to face legal challenges, and its outcome could determine the extent to which future US administrations can use similar regulations to control emissions from power plants.
FAQs
1. What is the US EPA planning to repeal?
The EPA is expected to repeal carbon pollution standards for coal- and gas-fired power plants, including rules introduced under the Biden administration to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
2. How much could Biden’s power plant rules have reduced emissions?
The Biden-era carbon emission rules were projected to reduce 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2047.
3. Why could the EPA’s proposed repeal face legal challenges?
The repeal would reverse federal carbon pollution standards for power plants, and environmental groups have indicated they will challenge the move in court.
4. How significant are power plants to US greenhouse gas emissions?
The US electricity sector is responsible for nearly a quarter of US greenhouse gas pollution, while power plants are the country’s largest industrial source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Sources: The Guardian, The Straits Times, PBS News
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