Trump EPA poised to repeal carbon pollution rules for power plants

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is poised to formally repeal carbon pollution standards for coal- and gas-fired power plants, in the latest climate policy rollback under President Donald Trump, according to reports.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is expected to announce the move in Houston, Texas, on Monday on the sidelines of a G20 energy ministers’ meeting, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The New York Times also reported that the administration plans to eliminate regulations aimed at limiting planet-warming emissions from power plants.

The move is expected to face legal challenges. If the rollback survives in court, it could also make it more difficult for future US administrations to use the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

Environmental groups have condemned the expected repeal.

“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 organisation’s chief programme officer.

She accused the Trump administration of favouring the fossil fuel industry while communities face the effects of climate change.

“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 licence to keep polluting,” Bender said.

The expected action follows a broader effort by the Trump administration to dismantle environmental regulations introduced under former President Joe Biden.

Last year, the EPA proposed repealing Biden-era rules designed to curb carbon dioxide, mercury and other pollutants from power plants. The agency is now expected to finalise part of that proposal, while also considering a separate move to repeal the federal finding that greenhouse gas emissions from power plants pose a threat.

The EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump has long supported expanding oil and gas production and has argued that environmental regulations can act as barriers to industrial development and energy production. His administration has made rolling back such regulations a central part of its energy policy.

Climate advocates and experts have criticised the rollbacks, arguing that they could increase pollution and undermine efforts to tackle climate change, while potentially affecting public health and economic costs.

Biden’s carbon standards for power plants were projected to cut greenhouse gas emissions by about 1 billion metric tonnes by 2047. The US electricity sector accounts for nearly a quarter of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The repeal would therefore represent a significant reversal of Biden-era efforts to regulate emissions from one of the largest sources of US climate pollution.