The Environmental Protection Agency is repealing rules that curb greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The action, announced Monday at the G20 “Energy Abundance Ministerial” in Houston, eliminates limits set by the Biden administration in 2024.
“The Trump Administration has come in to protect American energy and to make sure you can afford to keep the lights on,” said EPA Administrator Zeldin, in a release. “Americans will see a decrease in electricity prices, but this is just the beginning.”
The rule change is the latest in a back-and-forth between Democratic and Republican administrations over whether or not to limit power plants’ greenhouse gas pollution, the main cause of climate change.
Power plants are the second largest sources of emissions in the U.S. behind transportation.
The Trump administration stressed the importance of coal and natural gas in powering the electric grid, which is seeing high demand from artificial intelligence and data center growth. Coal accounts for 16 percent of the country’s electricity, while natural gas accounts for 40 percent, according to federal data.
“During periods of peak electricity demand, coal and natural gas continue to play a critical role in keeping the lights on,” said Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. “Today’s announcement will help ensure reliable electricity generation.”
EPA said revoking the rules would save $310 billion. But the agency did not calculate how much the rollback would increase public health costs. During the Biden administration, the EPA estimated its rules would save $370 billion in pollution-related health costs.
Reactions to the rollback
The action could affect dozens of gas plants and several coal plants in Pennsylvania, and was cheered by Rachel Gleason, executive director of Pennsylvania Coal Alliance. She said the mid-Atlantic grid, PJM, is already strained by rising demand from artificial intelligence.
“This would allow the coal fleet to continue to meet rising electricity demand,” Gleason said.
“We need to maintain the coal plants and any… reliable (power source) and not force retirements with these kinds of policy decisions.”
But Dr. Rachel Cleetus, senior policy director with the Union of Concerned Scientists said the decision would only exacerbate climate impacts, like heat waves, flooding, and wildfire smoke, which filled Pennsylvania’s air this summer.
“The health harms of climate change are already here. They will get worse, though, if we allow climate change to continue unchecked,” Cleetus said.
Cleetus said climate change is a health issue, and the EPA is required by the Clean Air Act to regulate pollutants that drive it.
“Climate change is contributing to a range of extreme disasters, including extreme heat waves, for example, which impose a huge health hazard to people, especially people who have to work outdoors, elderly people, young children. Heat-related illnesses are already taking a huge toll,” Cleetus said.
After years of declining emissions from the retirement of coal plants, Pennsylvania power sector emissions have started to increase recently, driven by greater use of natural gas, according to federal data.
Tom Schuster with the Pennsylvania Sierra Club said the state could see increased carbon and methane emissions from rising electricity demand from AI and data centers.
“We need these controls now more than ever. And unfortunately they’re being rolled back,” Schuster said.
Other benefits of reducing climate pollution
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants also has other public health benefits because it reduces other pollution, like particulate matter, said Nick Muller, professor of economics, engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University.
“One clear impact on Pennsylvania will be incrementally higher (particulate) concentrations,” Muller said. “That has a whole host of direct health impacts, illnesses, premature mortality, among the elderly predominantly.”
Particulate matter, or soot, is linked to increased heart attack, decreased lung function, and asthma, and is responsible for thousands of deaths a year in the US.
Earlier this month, the U.N. announced that the world would not meet the target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, a standard meant to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
Environmental groups are expected to appeal the Trump administration’s decision.
