EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin signed the final repeal of Biden-era carbon pollution standards for coal and gas power plants, an action the agency says will save industry more than $300 billion and help lower electricity costs.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday finalized its repeal of carbon dioxide limits on power plants, striking down Biden-era requirements for coal and natural gas generators in an action the agency says will save industry more than $300 billion and help bring down electricity costs for American families.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin signed the final rule scrapping the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards, which had required existing coal plants and new natural gas plants to capture or control 90 percent of their carbon dioxide emissions. Power plants rank as the second-largest source of U.S. carbon emissions behind transportation.
The signing came with a second, broader proposal: a rescission of the agency's greenhouse gas findings for power plants and a repeal of the remaining Clean Air Act Section 111 regulations covering power plant emissions. Together, the agency said, the actions would "ensure affordable and reliable energy supplies and drive down the costs of transportation, heating, utilities, farming, and manufacturing while boosting our national security."
The 2024 standards required existing coal-fired plants and new natural gas plants to cut 90 percent of their carbon dioxide emissions, a target the Biden EPA intended to push generators toward carbon capture, hydrogen blending, and other technologies. Compliance timelines stretched into the 2030s, but utilities warned the mandates could not be met without retiring plants early or driving up rates for customers.
Zeldin framed the repeal as a cost-cutting measure, saying the agency's aim was to lower electricity prices for households at a moment when energy costs have become a central issue ahead of the November midterm elections.
The action is the latest chapter in a years-long regulatory and legal fight. The EPA first proposed the repeal in June 2025 and has now completed it, arguing the federal government never had the authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate power plant emissions on the basis of climate change. The supplemental proposal, if finalized, would lock in that interpretation and make it far harder for a future administration to write new power plant carbon rules.
The power plant repeal is one piece of a much wider deregulatory effort. Earlier this year the same agency proposed handing states more discretion over minor air permits for data centers and other smaller emitters, aiming to clear a paperwork bottleneck tied to the data center air permits that have slowed new computing capacity.
In February the EPA revoked the endangerment finding that had classified carbon dioxide as a threat to public health, a determination that served as the legal foundation for regulating greenhouse gases in the first place. The administration has also moved to revive coal, expand gas-fired generation, and lift crude oil production while pausing or blocking several large solar and wind projects.
Officials describe the combined actions as a way to protect grid reliability at a time of rising demand from data centers, electric vehicles, and a resurgent domestic manufacturing sector -- and to keep the United States competitive with China in energy-intensive industries.
Supporters argue the repeal strips a layer of cost out of the electric system that would otherwise show up on monthly bills. Industry groups have long contended that the 2024 standards were designed less to cut emissions than to force a faster transition away from the fossil fuels that still supply the bulk of American power.
The administration has tied the effort directly to affordability. Gasoline and diesel prices have surged in recent weeks amid the U.S. conflict with Iran, pushing the cost of living to the top of the political agenda heading into the fall campaign. Zeldin, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum pressed the same case to international counterparts at a G20 energy meeting in Houston.
Critics, including environmental organizations and some Democratic state attorneys general, are expected to challenge the repeal in court. Similar rollbacks have already drawn lawsuits, and the dispute could take years to work its way through the federal appeals courts.
The final repeal moves forward through the federal rulemaking process, while the supplemental proposal to rescind the greenhouse gas findings must still clear public comment and finalization. That second step carries long-term stakes: it is designed to insulate the policy from being reversed the next time control of the White House changes hands.
Legal challenges are all but certain, and the fight is likely to reach the Supreme Court, where the scope of the Clean Air Act has been contested for more than a decade. For now, the administration is pointing to the repeal as proof it is delivering cheaper, more reliable power -- and counting on voters to notice the difference at the pump and on their utility bills.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin signed the final repeal of Biden-era carbon pollution standards for coal and gas power plants, an action the agency says will save industry more than $300 billion and help lower electricity costs.
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