EPA Lifts Power-Plant Carbon Limits, Reversing Rules It Said Cost $310 Billion
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Sep 17
EPA Lifts Power-Plant Carbon Limits, Reversing Rules It Said Cost $310 Billion
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Sep 17
Summary
Coal- and gas-fired power plants no longer face the Biden-era carbon caps after the EPA moved to scrap the rules and block similar future regulation.
The agency says the rollback will cut electricity costs and reflects the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that curbed EPA authority to regulate carbon emissions independently.
Environmental groups say the repeal will raise health and climate costs, while EPA chief Lee Zeldin has cast it as part of the administration's broad deregulatory push.
The move fits Trump's wider pro-fossil-fuel agenda, which has also loosened vehicle and appliance emissions rules and followed at least $75 million in energy-industry campaign donations.
U.S. Climate Policy in Reverse: The 2025–2026 EPA Rollbacks and Their National and Global Fallout
Overview
The report traces how the Trump administration's 2025–2026 EPA rollbacks dismantled federal climate protections by revoking power plant carbon standards and the 2009 endangerment finding, creating a regulatory void. This shift, justified by a narrow legal reading and economic arguments, led to a patchwork of conflicting state rules and triggered a wave of lawsuits. Federal intervention stalled coal plant retirements, raising emissions and costs for consumers, while slashed clean energy funding left vulnerable communities unsupported. Internationally, the U.S. lost credibility by exiting climate agreements, risking economic disadvantages as global partners impose carbon tariffs and outpace American innovation.