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The Trump administration is ending a Biden-era mandate requiring fossil fuel power plants to curb carbon emissions by 2039 or shut down, even as demand for electricity is projected to soar.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the decision Sept. 14, an effort to end what he called a war on coal and lower electricity prices.
“We are working to go even further so that American energy can be fully unleashed,” Zeldin said. “Realizing the full potential of American energy means more jobs, lower prices, and a more prosperous America.”
The EPA’s actions push back on the 2024 rule’s emissions guidelines for coal and natural gas power generation. Existing coal plants planning to operate after Jan. 1, 2039, had to capture 90% of their carbon dioxide by 2032, a standard that industry experts said meant most plants would simply shut down.
If left in place, the Biden rule “would have led to widespread retirements of coal power plants desperately needed to keep pace with America’s exploding demand for electricity,” said Michelle Bloodworth, the president and CEO of America’s Power, a national trade group representing the coal industry. “By repealing this rule, EPA estimates Americans will save approximately $1.2 billion in regulatory costs each year.”
The Biden administration didn’t spare natural gas, either. New natural gas power plants also faced a standard based on 90% carbon capture beginning in 2032. The rules did not cover existing natural gas facilities.
While the Biden administration said the rules would protect communities from pollution, energy industry advocates said they would severely damage the American economy.
“The Biden EPA tried to use the Clean Air Act as a weapon to kill the coal industry and new natural gas plants,” said Daren Bakst, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment.
U.S. Energy Information Administration statistics show natural gas accounted for about 41% of utility-scale electricity generation in 2025, compared with 17% for coal.
The attempt to restrict baseload power generation from coal and natural gas came even as regulators and grid managers warned of potential shortages during extreme weather. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation projected that 13 of its 23 assessment areas face resource-adequacy challenges during the next decade.
NERC attributed the worsening outlook to several factors, including demand growth from data centers and other large users outpacing projected supply. Its report said accelerated retirements of coal, natural gas, petroleum and nuclear generators could harm reliability if sufficient replacement resources are not available.
The Trump administration cited those reliability concerns as one reason for repealing the carbon rules. It also pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 West Virginia v. EPA decision, which limited the EPA’s ability to use the Clean Air Act to force a nationwide shift in electricity generation.
The administration estimates this new policy will produce $310 billion in energy cost savings across the economy.
The same analysis projects the repeal will increase national average retail electricity prices by 0.7% in 2030, then reduce them by 5.8% in 2035, 1.1% in 2040 and 2.6% in 2045 compared with leaving the Biden rule in place.
Environmental groups are promising to challenge the rollback in court and press Congress to enact greenhouse gas limits.
“This is full-throated climate denial while the climate crisis happens in real time and a shocking betrayal of the American public,” said Sierra Club Chief Program Officer Holly Bender.
Trump administration sources say more regulatory savings could follow. Alongside the partial repeal, the EPA proposed rescinding every remaining greenhouse gas standard for the power sector. The agency estimates that proposal would save an additional $370 million in direct compliance costs over 20 years.
With data center power demands rising and concerns about potential power outages, Bloodworth hopes America takes a fresh look at the importance of coal.
“Coal power plants are resilient to extreme weather and more dependable than wind and solar power, and they make electricity affordable and electricity prices more stable,” said Bloodworth.
“And America has the largest coal reserves of any country in the world, including China and Russia. Preserving the coal fleet allows the U.S. to maintain energy dominance by taking advantage of our most abundant energy resource.”
Reprinted with permission from DC Journal.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
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