Groups sue US EPA over repeal of power plant greenhouse gas standards

Multiple health and climate organizations filed a petition for review of the US Environmental Protection Agency's finalized rule repealing carbon dioxide limits imposed on power plants.

The Sept. 17 petition from the American Health Association, American Lung Association, Clean Air Council, Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council and Clean Wisconsin asks the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to determine whether the EPA's actions violate the Clean Air Act.

"Repealing these standards without a replacement is an abdication of EPA's legal responsibility to protect public health and the environment," Meredith Hankins, federal climate legal director at the NRDC, said in a press release.

"This unlawful rule seeks to remove our national limits on climate pollution from power plants at a time when more Americans than ever are suffering," added Vickie Patton, general counsel for EDF. "EPA is supposed to protect people and the environment, not rewrite the rules to benefit polluters."

EPA Secretary Lee Zeldin announced the final repeal of most of the Biden-era 2024 power plant CO2 standards on Sept. 14, removing greenhouse gas requirements for coal- and natural gas-fired power plants. This includes a requirement that new plants install carbon capture and sequestration technologies to minimize emissions. Zeldin said the repeal will save $310 billion in energy costs over 20 years.

The repeal only impacts carbon standards, and the agency will retain oversight of criteria pollutants and hazardous air pollutants to safeguard human health, the EPA said during a press call.

The agency on Sept. 17 declined to comment on pending litigation, but issued a news release with numerous comments from administration officials, Republican governors, Republican federal legislators, and interest and utility groups supporting the action.

"The Biden rule exacerbates the pressures facing America's electric grid by forcing critical existing power plants into early retirement and severely restricting the operation of new natural gas plants," National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson said in the EPA-issued news release.

Indiana Governor Mike Braun said in the news release: "Today's EPA action is a major step toward restoring reliable, affordable energy by removing burdensome regulations that threaten America's power supply. This commonsense approach will support American workers, strengthen energy security, and help lower costs for families and businesses."

Analysts at Siebert Williams Shank said in a Sept. 17 research note that they expect the EPA action to have a smaller overall impact than the agency predicts.

"We expect a more muted production response from utilities and electricity generators and less rosy cost savings results," they said. "We also do not believe that the financial implications to increased fossil generation output will be broadly material."

For regulated utilities, the analysts expect only limited financial benefits, noting that while the repeal action is contested, decisions on new generation or emissions control investments could be delayed. Also, regulated utilities earn returns on emissions control investments.

Also on Sept. 14, the EPA proposed to rescind "every remaining greenhouse gas standard for the power sector," which Zeldin said in a news release would save an additional "$370 million in direct compliance costs, in addition to the billions more American families and businesses can expect to see saved across the economy." The proposal, which would affect coal plant standards set during the Obama administration, has a 45-day comment period.

"It would prevent a future EPA from being able to regulate greenhouse gas emissions for global climate change for power plants," a Trump administration official said on the press call. Citing Section 111 of the Clean Air Act, the official argued the Biden administration "relied on technology that had not been adequately demonstrated." The Trump administration has said the Biden-era EPA's mandate to install carbon capture technology was beyond the agency's authority.

The US power sector remains the nation's largest stationary source of climate-warming emissions, accounting for 23% of the total US footprint in 2023, according to the EPA. The agency no longer inventories greenhouse gas emissions as part of the Trump administration's deregulatory agenda, but other organizations provide estimates. Climate research firm the Rhodium Group reported in January that US power sector emissions rose 3.8% in 2025, marking the second consecutive annual increase since 2012-2013.