Trump administration repeals the last major US rule limiting power plant carbon emissions

The Trump administration has repealed a 2024 rule that required power plants to cut their carbon emissions, eliminating what was the last major federal regulation on the U.S. electricity sector's greenhouse gas output. The rule, finalized under President Biden, gave utilities a choice: retire coal plants in the 2030s or install carbon capture technology to keep operating.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said the repeal would help ensure "American energy can be fully unleashed." The Biden-era rule was projected to prevent $370 billion in health damages from climate change and air pollution by 2035, along with hundreds of thousands of asthma flare-ups and more than 1,200 premature deaths a year, according to the agency's own 2024 estimate.

Coal accounts for almost half of cumulative global carbon emissions since the industrial era, but U.S. power sector emissions have already fallen by nearly half over the past two decades as cheaper natural gas has displaced coal. Kenneth Gillingham, a professor of environmental economics at Yale University, said that market shift is likely to continue regardless of the repeal: "You can only fight markets so much," he said, though he noted rising electricity demand from AI data centers could extend the operating life of some coal plants.

Based on reporting by Jake Bittle for Grist. Read the original: https://grist.org/energy/trump-zeldin-epa-repeal-biden-carbon-power-plant-rule/