ABSTRACT

The Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to repeal federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, according to The Verge, which reported the agency is finalizing the repeal of Biden-era greenhouse gas requirements for the power sector and proposing to eliminate remaining limits on that pollution. Grist reported the EPA was expected to announce the repeal this week, with administrator Lee Zeldin expected to announce the final repeal at an international energy summit in Texas. The proposal will be open for public comment for 45 days, according to The Verge, which reported it is likely to face legal challenges.

Grist

EPA moves to repeal federal greenhouse gas limits for power plants

Sep 14, 2026, 4:51 PM

Context

Grist reported that the federal government has shifted position on power plant carbon regulation for nearly two decades. After Congress did not pass a carbon tax, the Obama administration drafted the Clean Power Plan, which would have required utilities to cut emissions by moving away from coal. President Donald Trump repealed that rule in his first term, and the Supreme Court later held that the president could not unilaterally force utilities to abandon the fuel, according to Grist. The Biden administration's 2024 rule worked around that ruling by giving utilities a choice: retire coal plants sometime in the 2030s or install equipment to capture nearly all carbon dioxide from their smokestacks, Grist reported.

In its press release, the EPA argued that greenhouse gas pollution is "out of its scope to regulate" because its impacts are global and any potential public health harms are too uncertain, conjectural, remote and convoluted to tie specifically to the U.S. power sector, according to The Verge. Grist reported the agency used the same justification it applied to its repeal of climate regulations for motor vehicles earlier this year, arguing that the science of climate change was uncertain and that the repeal would save consumers money on power bills. Zeldin said last year when announcing a draft of the rulemaking that the agency was proposing to repeal Obama and Biden rules that had been criticized as regulating coal, oil and gas out of existence, and the agency said at the time the repeal would help restore American energy dominance, according to Grist.

The EPA claims the finalized rule would save $310 billion, while the additional proposed actions would reduce direct compliance costs by $370 million, according to The Verge. Grist reported that the Biden administration predicted its 2024 rule would have prevented around $370 billion in health damages from climate change and air pollution, and that in 2035 the rule would have prevented hundreds of thousands of asthma flare-ups, hundreds of emergency room visits and more than 1,200 premature deaths.

The Verge reported that the power sector accounts for about a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, second only to transportation, and that the United States has produced more greenhouse gas pollution than any other country in history and remains a leading emitter after China. According to The Verge, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin has prioritized making America "the AI capital of the world," and electricity has become more expensive in the U.S. as demand rises for the first time in over a decade with more data centers, factories and electric vehicles connecting to power grids.

Grist reported that coal accounts for almost half of cumulative global carbon emissions since the industrial era began and generates more carbon dioxide per unit of energy than oil or gas, and that most climate experts agree phasing out coal power is the single largest change available to slow global warming. Coal power has nonetheless declined in the United States over the past 20 years, Grist reported, because the shale fracking boom lowered natural gas prices and made it cheap for utilities to replace coal plants with gas plants, reducing overall power sector emissions by almost half.

Grist reported that rapid growth in power demand from data centers has led many utilities to push back retirement dates for coal plants. Southern Company, a utility serving states including Georgia and Mississippi, had planned under the Biden administration to retire its major Mississippi coal plant by 2028 but announced last year that data centers would require keeping it online well into the 2030s; its earlier efforts to install carbon capture at its coal units ended in failure, according to Grist. Grist also reported that the Trump administration ordered some coal plants to stay online past their planned retirements, a move a federal court found unlawful earlier this month, and that environmental groups have criticized utility decisions to extend coal plant life and argued that AI demand is inflated.

All Perspectives

EPA / Trump administration: In its press release, the EPA argues that greenhouse gas pollution is out of its scope to regulate because its impacts are global in nature and any potential public health harms are too uncertain, conjectural, remote and convoluted to tie specifically to the U.S. power sector, according to The Verge, and the agency claims the finalized rule would save $310 billion while additional proposed actions would reduce direct compliance costs by $370 million. Grist reported the agency used the same justification as its vehicle regulation repeal, arguing climate science was uncertain and the repeal would save consumers money on power bills. Zeldin said last year when announcing a draft of the rulemaking, according to Grist: "We are proposing to repeal Obama and Biden rules that have been criticized as regulating coal, oil, and gas out of existence," and the agency said the repeal "would help restore American energy dominance."

Moms Clean Air Force: Director and cofounder Dominique Browning said in an emailed statement, according to The Verge: "Failure to limit climate pollution means more children ending up in the emergency room with asthma attacks and heatstroke, more families struggling to rebuild homes after harrowing storms. It means higher health care bills, higher insurance costs, and more economic struggle at a time when Americans cannot afford it."

Sierra Club: Chief program officer Holly Bender said in an emailed press statement, according to The Verge: "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. While wildfires rage, floods devastate communities, and families struggle to afford skyrocketing electricity bills and insurance premiums, the Trump administration is handing the fossil fuel industry a license to keep polluting."

Kenneth Gillingham, Yale University: Gillingham, a professor of environmental economics and an economic adviser to the Obama administration who helped draft the Clean Power Plan, said, according to Grist: "The reason to have a target is that it sends a clear signal to decision-makers in companies. If you're on the fence between choosing two things, you might as well choose the one that's in line with the target. That's been undermined. There has to be some teeth behind it."

Southern Company: According to Grist, the utility had planned under the Biden administration to retire its major Mississippi coal plant by 2028 but announced last year that data centers would necessitate keeping it online well into the 2030s, and its previous efforts to install carbon capture at its coal units ended in failure.

Environmental groups on utility coal extensions: Grist reported that environmental groups have criticized decisions by utilities to keep coal plants online and have argued that AI demand is inflated.

Where sources differ

The sources give different accounts of the timing of the announcement: The Verge reported that the EPA announced its plans today, while Grist reported the agency was expected to announce the repeal this week and that Zeldin was expected to announce the final repeal at an international energy summit in Texas.
The sources cite different dollar figures in different contexts: The Verge reported the EPA claims $310 billion in savings from the finalized rule and $370 million in reduced direct compliance costs, while Grist reported a Biden administration projection that its 2024 rule would have prevented about $370 billion in health damages from climate change and air pollution.

Gaps & Unknowns

None of the sources establishes which specific remaining standards, beyond the Biden-era power plant rule, the EPA proposal would eliminate, or the full text of the proposed and finalized actions.
No source includes a response from the EPA to the health and cost criticisms made by the Sierra Club, Moms Clean Air Force or other advocates.
No source establishes whether any legal challenges have been filed, which parties would file them, or on what grounds they would proceed.
No source quantifies the expected increase in greenhouse gas emissions or the expected effect on electricity prices from the repeal.
No source includes comment from Southern Company or any other utility on the repeal, beyond Grist's account of Southern's earlier public statements about its Mississippi plant.
No source includes comment from data center operators, AI companies or other large electricity consumers on rising power demand.
The Verge's statement that the move will make electricity dirtier and Grist's statement that the repeal will likely delay the coal phaseout are projections not established as outcomes in the sources.

Sources & Further Reading

The Verge — original — by Justine Calma
Grist — by Jake Bittle
The Guardian US — by Adria R Walker
Arab News — by AP
New York Post — by Ryan King

Read the original at The Verge

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