US scraps greenhouse gas rules for power plants

US President Donald Trump's administration has scrapped limits on carbon emissions from coaland gas-fired power plants, in its latest move to dismantle regulations aimed at curbing climate change.

"Today, we are cutting the red tape to deliver the largest power sectorderegulatory action ever," Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin said at a press conference. Zeldin made the announcement during a G20 energy ministers' meeting in Houston.

"We are not going to bend the law to climate alarmism and climate radicalism at all at the Trump EPA," he said, while accusing journalists of trying to "scare" the public. 

What has changed?

The EPA has repealed Biden-era standards, introduced in 2024 under the Clean Air Act, to control the emission of planet-heating gases from existing and new power plants. The rules had required power plants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 90% or shut down by 2039.

The latest move not only rolls back the initiatives introduced under former Democrat presidents, but also proposes to stop future greenhouse gas regulations affecting the power sector.

"For over 15 years, the Obama and Biden administrations implemented a war on coal to destroy reliable and affordable energy," Zeldin was quoted as saying in an EPA statement. The Trump administration would change that, he said. "Americans will see a decrease in electricity prices."

Emission as a result of power generation accounts for about a quarter of the country's greenhouse gas emissions.

The EPA said coal production for the power sector was expected to rise more than tenfold after the repeal.

EPA likely to face pushback

Meredith Hankins, a legal expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the agency's actions had contradictory legal justifications.

"We'll have to look at the final text of the rule," Hankins said. "But I think on its face you can see the contradictions. So I'm certainly looking forward to seeing them in court."

"They're propping up fossil fuel industry profits and completely sidelining people's health and well-being," said Rachel Cleetus of the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists.

"The EPA has deserted its mission entirely, and they're doing it in a way that's cruel. They're gleefully taking credit for it," she said.

Edited by: Natalie Muller

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