The agency is also axing Biden-era rules that would have forced coal-fired plants to shutter and gas-fired plants to complete costly environmental upgrades
The Trump Environmental Protection Agency is planning to propose the permanent repeal of federal regulations of power plants’ greenhouse gas emissions, asserting that such rules have “virtually no benefit,” the Washington Free Beacon has learned. In tandem with that proposal, the agency is finalizing plans to gut other Biden-era climate rules that forced existing coal-fired plants to close down and stymied future gas plant development.
Together, the moves represent a historic action that the EPA says is the largest power sector deregulatory action in U.S. history. According to the agency’s data, the move axing the Biden-era regulations will save Americans $310 billion. The other action—eliminating every remaining greenhouse gas-related power plant regulation—will save companies $370 million in direct compliance costs and is expected to lead to significant downstream savings in power bills both for businesses and households.
“The Trump administration has come in to protect American energy and to make sure you can afford to keep the lights on,” EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement to the Free Beacon. “Americans will see a decrease in electricity prices, but this is just the beginning. We are working to go even further so that American energy can be fully unleashed.”
Zeldin is slated to announce the actions at the G20 Energy Abundance Ministerial in Houston later Monday alongside Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
The EPA’s actions are expected to immediately extend the lifespan of existing coal-fired plants, shielding them from forced early shutdowns, and pave the way for developers nationwide to more easily build new gas-fired plants. That could help meet growing electricity demand and, as a result, drive down energy prices.
That makes it one of the most significant actions the Trump administration has taken in its fight to lower electric bills, increase American energy capacity, and assert what administration officials call “energy dominance.” It also represents a complete reversal of the Biden administration’s aggressive climate agenda—much of which was carried out unilaterally by executive orders—which Republicans have long complained raised costs and reduced capacity without tangible benefits. Indeed, the move is a stunning defeat for Democrats and environmental activists who have made curbing greenhouse gas regulations from power plants a central pillar of their sweeping climate agenda. The power sector is the largest industrial source of greenhouse gas emissions, which activists say are causing potentially catastrophic global warming.
The Trump EPA is expected to assert in its new proposal that it does not have the legal authority to regulate power plant greenhouse gas emissions based on climate change theories and that those types of emissions “have no material impact on global climate change.”
“The targeted emissions are global in nature, and any potential public health harms are too uncertain, conjectural, remote, and convoluted to tie specifically to the U.S. power sector,” the EPA added. “Therefore, the agency is proposing it is out of its scope to regulate.”
That reasoning echoes the agency’s February 2026 action establishing that greenhouse gas emissions from gas-powered vehicles don’t endanger public health.
There is perhaps no better example of the EPA regulating power plants’ greenhouse gas emissions than the Biden-era crackdown—which Trump likened to a “regulatory jihad to shut down power plants all across America.”
The Biden EPA finalized those rules in 2024 and made them a key part of its broader climate agenda. At the time, the Biden administration boasted it would reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by 617 million metric tons through 2042 and save Americans money in health costs.
To do that, the now-eliminated plan forced power plant operators to adopt costly carbon capture technology or shut down (such technology hasn’t been deployed at scale and has faced considerable criticism from the power industry). Under the rules, existing coal power plants would have been forced to capture 90 percent of their emissions by 2032 if they intend to operate beyond 2039, and planned gas plants would have been forced to incorporate the expensive technology.
But four of the nation’s grid operators, which collectively oversee the power grid serving more than 150 million Americans, said grid reliability would “dwindle to concerning levels” under the Biden administration’s power regulations. And the Edison Electric Institute, which represents the largest power providers in the country, sued over the rules.
“At the end of the day, this gives people affordable, reliable energy and makes sure that we’re not just picking some abstract, unrealistic goal that will end up driving up costs for American families,” Aaron Szabo, the EPA’s assistant administrator for air and radiation, said in an interview with the Free Beacon.
“Energy costs are a regressive form of taxation,” he continued. “The people who are hurt most by rising energy costs are the poorest in the country. They’re the ones who can least afford higher energy costs. This is something that’s going to help all Americans, but especially those who need the money the most right now.”
Overall, in 2025, gas-fired power plants generated 40 percent of the nation’s electricity, accounting for more power generation than any other source, according to federal data. Coal-fired power plants generated 17 percent of the nation’s electricity. Wind and solar power each generated far less electricity than coal last year.
The EPA’s actions Monday only impact its ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The actions do not impact regulations targeting power plants’ hazardous air pollutants or particulate matter emissions.
Read the full article here
