Trump throws out power plant climate pollution rules

The Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to remove the remaining federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and proposed scrapping any other sector-specific standards for electricity generation. The agency framed the actions as a step to reduce regulatory costs, saying the finalized rule would save $310 billion and that the additional proposed actions would cut $370 million in direct compliance costs.

Environmental and consumer groups immediately criticized the move as a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s push to ease restrictions on fossil fuels and to facilitate energy-intensive projects such as data centers. Advocates argue that easing limits on the power sector—which contributes roughly a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions—will make electricity generation dirtier at a time when demand is rising because of more data center construction, expanding electric vehicle use, and renewed domestic manufacturing.

The EPA has defended its position by saying greenhouse gas pollution is difficult to regulate at the power-plant level because its harms are global and diffuse, making it hard to tie specific public-health impacts to the U.S. electricity sector. That argument follows an earlier administration move in February to overturn the “endangerment finding” for vehicles, which had previously allowed the agency to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

The proposed changes will be open for a 45-day public comment period and are likely to face lawsuits and other opposition. Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club say they will challenge the policy in court and in Congress, while public-health and consumer advocates warn of higher medical, insurance, and energy costs tied to increased pollution and climate impacts.