{"slug": "trump-epa-is-to-eliminate-rule-that-limits-planet-warming-greenhouse-gas-from", "title": "Trump EPA is to eliminate rule that limits planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from power plants", "summary": "The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to repeal rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and natural-gas-fired power plants, with an announcement possible as soon as Monday, according to two people familiar with the proposal. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has said the rollback would remove billions of dollars in costs for the industry and help \"unleash\" American energy, while the Environmental Defense Fund's general counsel Vickie Patton warned it will have \"enormous costs for the health, safety and well-being of families across the country.\" The targeted rules could prevent an estimated 30,000 deaths and save $275 billion each year they are in effect, according to an Associated Press examination last year.", "body_md": "**Getting your**\n\n[Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...\n**By MATTHEW DALY**\n\nWASHINGTON (AP) — The [Environmental Protection Agency](https://apnews.com/hub/us-environmental-protection-agency) is expected to repeal rules that limit planet-warming [greenhouse gas emissions](https://apnews.com/article/power-plants-coal-natural-gas-biden-epa-5c96ca146e7f70b47806beb4bc3713e6) from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas, an action that Administrator Lee Zeldin has said would remove billions of dollars in costs for the industry and help “unleash” American energy.\n\nThe rule change, [proposed last year](https://apnews.com/article/epa-power-plants-trump-coal-natural-gas-climate-b6421bf170e69b54a3ded2e575f1bc10), could be announced as soon as Monday, according to two people familiar with the proposal, and represents a fundamental shift from efforts by Democratic Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama to address [climate change](https://apnews.com/climate-and-environment) and clean up industrial pollution, often in low-income and majority Black or Hispanic communities.\n\nThe rule, which is expected to face immediate legal challenges, also could prevent future administrations from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the people familiar with the proposal said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the rule had not yet been made final.\n\nThe EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\n\nThe plan to make the rule final was first reported by the New York Times.\n\nThe rollbacks are meant to fulfill Republican President Donald Trump’s repeated pledge to “ [unleash American energy](https://apnews.com/article/lng-exports-trump-energy-dominance-offshore-drilling-f0e0d3b2dfb0f6a3e81cadd2dcd56696) ” and make it easier for utilities to supply electricity for homes and businesses.\n\nThe power plant rule is among nearly three dozen environmental regulations that Zeldin targeted in early 2025 when he announced what he called the “most [consequential day of deregulation](https://apnews.com/article/trump-epa-climate-zeldin-power-plants-feb184286a7a9419aefddce293362e6b) in American history.”\n\nZeldin said in proposing the new rules last year that they were meant to end the Biden and Obama administrations’ “war on so much of our U.S. domestic energy supply.”\n\nEnvironmental and public health groups called the rollbacks dangerous and vowed to challenge the rules in court.\n\n“Tearing down our national protections against climate pollution from power plants will have enormous costs for the health, safety and well-being of families across the country,” said Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund. “Americans everywhere are already suffering from record-breaking heat, more dangerous floods and storms, and skyrocketing insurance costs.”\n\nThe EPA has a legal responsibility to protect the public from harmful pollution, Patton said, adding that “clean, affordable and reliable technologies are widely available to power our homes and businesses.”\n\nCoal, gas and oil-fired power plants are responsible for about one-quarter of the nation’s total climate pollution, second only to the transportation sector. Pollution from power plants is one of the largest sources of climate-changing pollution in the world.\n\nThe rules targeted by Trump’s EPA could prevent an [estimated 30,000 deaths](https://apnews.com/article/epa-rollbacks-trump-zeldin-pollution-rules-emissions-49a396a37a2080ad3f93e20adbcbc1fd) and save $275 billion each year they are in effect, according to [an Associated Press examination](https://apnews.com/article/epa-rules-rollbacks-emissions-ap-methodology-06a7688a569ec7c5e48d8a7b9aad77d8) last year that included the agency’s own prior assessments and a wide range of other research.\n\nEven a partial dismantling of the rules would mean [more pollutants](https://apnews.com/article/epa-zeldin-pollution-rules-analysis-savings-health-0a289aec2507ed38d386680afdd0ea45) such as smog, mercury and lead — and especially more tiny airborne particles that can lodge in lungs and cause health problems, the AP analysis found. It would also mean higher emissions of greenhouse gases, driving Earth’s warming to deadlier levels.\n\nBiden, a Democrat, had made fighting climate change [a hallmark of his presidency](https://apnews.com/article/biden-climate-health-tax-law-economy-inflation-f112d7c78abaa724d22964317d213deb). Coal-fired power plants would have been forced to [capture smokestack emissions](https://apnews.com/article/power-plants-coal-natural-gas-biden-epa-5c96ca146e7f70b47806beb4bc3713e6) or shut down under a strict EPA rule issued in 2024. Those rules are now being upended.\n\nIn its proposal last year, the Trump EPA argued that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from fossil fuel-fired power plants “do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution” or climate change and therefore do not meet a threshold under the Clean Air Act for regulatory action. Greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas-fired plants “are a small and decreasing part of global emissions,″ the EPA said.\n\nZeldin, a Republican and former New York congressman, said the Biden-era rules were designed to “suffocate our economy in order to protect the environment,” with the intent to regulate the coal industry “out of existence” and make it “disappear.”", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trump-epa-is-to-eliminate-rule-that-limits-planet-warming-greenhouse-gas-from", "canonical_source": "https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/09/14/trump-epa-eliminating-greenhouse-gas-emissions-rule-power-plants/", "published_at": "2026-09-14 13:49:49+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-14 14:16:56.025226+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy"], "entities": ["Environmental Protection Agency", "Lee Zeldin", "Donald Trump", "Environmental Defense Fund", "Vickie Patton", "Joe Biden", "Barack Obama", "New York Times"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trump-epa-is-to-eliminate-rule-that-limits-planet-warming-greenhouse-gas-from", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trump-epa-is-to-eliminate-rule-that-limits-planet-warming-greenhouse-gas-from.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trump-epa-is-to-eliminate-rule-that-limits-planet-warming-greenhouse-gas-from.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trump-epa-is-to-eliminate-rule-that-limits-planet-warming-greenhouse-gas-from.jsonld"}}