US EPA reportedly looking to end greenhouse gas emission limits for power plants

The US Environmental Protection Agency is planning to end federal greenhouse gas emission limits for coal- and natural gas-fired power plants, according to The New York Times.

In internal documents, the agency said carbon dioxide does not significantly contribute to pollution, and eliminating greenhouse gas emissions would not tangibly impact public safety, the Times reported May 23.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, was unable to independently verify those documents. But an EPA spokesperson May 27, while declining to explicitly confirm the Times report, said that the agency was "developing a proposed rule" on power plant emissions that would be published following an interagency review. The spokesperson said the agency would use the Supreme Court's 2022 decision in West Virginia v. EPA, which overturned the Obama administration's "Clean Power Plan," to argue that Biden-era power plant emissions limits overstepped the agency's authority.

Separately, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said, "President Trump promised to kill the Clean Power Plan in his first term, and we continue to build on that progress now. In reconsidering the Biden-Harris rule that ran afoul of Supreme Court case law, we are seeking to ensure that the agency follows the rule of law while providing all Americans with access to reliable and affordable energy," Zeldin said in a statement.

The EPA in March said it would "reconsider" the Biden-era rule. Finalized in April 2024, the rule imposed the first-ever limits on CO2 emissions from existing coal-fired and new gas-fired power plants. The rule, which effectively requires coal plants to install carbon capture technology or retire, drew praise from climate groups but sharp criticism from electric utilities, which said that carbon capture retrofits were too expensive and the resulting plant retirements would threaten grid reliability.

The EPA spokesperson said the Biden administration's rule would "shut down affordable and reliable electricity generation in the United States" and raise electricity prices and increase the US' "reliance on foreign forms of energy."

Fossil fuel-fired generators are the nation's largest stationary source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 25% of economywide CO2 emissions in 2022, according to the EPA. The Biden EPA projected the carbon limits would result in up to $370 billion in climate and public health net benefits over the next two decades.

Stakeholder reaction

The Edison Electric Institute, a trade organization representing investor-owned utilities, told Platts in March that the EPA should adopt a "consistent federal framework" when revisiting the power plant rule.

"EPA regulations should be flexible and account for impacts to customer bills and grid reliability," Alex Bond, EEI's executive director of legal and clean energy policy, said in a March 12 email.

A spokesperson for EEI did not immediately respond to a request for comment May 27 on the reported elimination of all federal greenhouse gas limits. A spokesperson for WIRES, another trade organization representing utilities, declined to comment.

Environmental groups blasted the changes, saying the rollbacks were designed to support the fossil fuel industry at the expense of public health.

"It's completely reprehensible that Donald Trump would roll back these lifesaving rules and do more harm to the American people just to earn some brownie points with the fossil fuel industry," Patrick Drupp, director of climate policy at the Sierra Club, said in a statement.