Politics
Trump EPA Moves To Roll Back Carbon Limits For Coal And Gas Power Plants
The reversal could reopen fights over federal power-sector climate authority.
The reversal could reopen fights over federal power-sector climate authority.
Federal for coal and gas power plants sit at the center of a long fight over how far the can go to curb climate pollution from the electricity sector. The expected rollback would weaken one of the few national tools for cutting and could set up fresh court battles over the agency’s authority, the costs for utilities, and the future of federal climate regulation.
formally moved to roll back the , including the for existing coal plants and some new gas-fired units. The proposal also targeted other Biden-era power plant pollution rules, including , as part of a broader reversal. The expected result is another round of from states and climate groups, while fossil-fuel interests and many utilities are likely to back the rollback.
EPA under President Trump said it would reconsider the , including the carbon standards for existing coal units and some new gas plants. The agency also linked the move to broader rollbacks of Biden power plant pollution limits, signaling a return to a much weaker federal climate stance. EPA framed the Biden approach as an overreach, while opponents warned the shift would slow emissions cuts and deepen litigation.
EPA finalized a new rule for existing coal plants and new gas plants that tried to fit within the Supreme Court’s limits by using narrower, . The rule was designed to cut emissions from the power sector without relying on the broad generation-shifting theory rejected in West Virginia v. EPA. States, utilities, and industry groups quickly challenged it in court, arguing EPA was still stretching the .
The Supreme Court held in that EPA had gone too far with in the Clean Power Plan. The Court said a major policy of that scale needed clear , sharply limiting how far EPA could go in restructuring the electricity mix. EPA still retained power to regulate power-plant greenhouse gases, but within a much narrower legal frame.
A federal appeals court the Trump administration’s repeal of the Clean Power Plan, ruling that EPA had not justified scrapping the earlier approach. The decision did not restore the Clean Power Plan in practice, but it mattered because it confirmed the repeal was unlawful. That left EPA with no final existing-source carbon rule in place and pushed the agency toward a new .
The Supreme Court the Clean Power Plan before it could take effect, a major setback for EPA’s first for power plants. That stay left the rule frozen while challenges continued in the lower courts. It also kept the future of federal power-sector climate policy tied to the outcome of litigation rather than implementation.
EPA issued the , its first major carbon rule for existing fossil fuel power plants under . The rule used the idea of the “,” including shifting generation from higher-emitting coal units toward cleaner sources. The rule immediately became the baseline for years of litigation and later rollback efforts.