Overview
- The EPA finalized the repeal of Biden-era greenhouse-gas limits for coal- and natural-gas‑fired power plants on Monday, ending federal standards that required steep carbon cuts at existing coal plants and new gas plants.
- The agency also published a separate proposal to rescind other power-sector GHG rules and argue the EPA lacks authority to regulate those emissions, an effort that could bar future administrations from reimposing similar limits.
- The EPA says the rollbacks will cut more than $300 billion in industry compliance costs and lower electricity prices, a claim the agency used to justify the changes.
- States led by Democrats and major environmental and public-health groups have pledged immediate legal challenges, and experts say courts will closely scrutinize the agency’s claim that power-plant greenhouse gases do not meet Clean Air Act thresholds.
- The move affects a sector that supplies roughly 24% of U.S. greenhouse emissions and could forgo benefits the Biden rules were projected to deliver, including an Associated Press estimate of about 30,000 avoided premature deaths and roughly $275 billion in annual benefits.