Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a repeal of nearly all the Biden administration’s 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards for greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants, an action the agency said would save taxpayers $310 billion through 2047.
"Costs will go down for consumers on their electric bills, and it will also mean that electric generators can invest money into the electric grid, into ensuring grid stability, so that when folks need the lights to stay on, that they will stay on, and that electricity will be there when it's needed most for businesses, for hospitals, for families across the country," EPA deputy administrator David Fotouhi told Just The News.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the rule at the G20 Energy Abundance Ministerial in Houston, saying the 2024 standards exceeded Clean Air Act authority by relying on carbon-capture technology that was not adequately demonstrated and by ignoring the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in West Virginia v. EPA.
The agency simultaneously proposed eliminating all remaining power-sector greenhouse gas standards, projecting an extra $370 million in direct compliance savings. EPA officials said coal production for electricity could rise more than tenfold and that the changes would lower electricity prices and restore baseload reliability.
LNG Got Parked While Methane Got Billed Under Biden
Republican officials and fossil-fuel groups have long argued that Biden-era climate rules threatened coal plants, new gas generation and export projects, even as U.S. crude output and dry natural gas production would later set records.
The centerpiece was the EPA’s 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards, which required many existing coal units and new baseload gas plants to cut carbon deeply, often via carbon capture, or retire. Coal advocates said the rule would force widespread plant closures as electricity demand rose. The Trump EPA this month repealed most of that package and projected $310 billion in savings.
Other measures drew similar fire. A 2023-24 methane rule and Inflation Reduction Act waste emissions charge raised compliance costs for oil and gas operators. Tightened Mercury and Air Toxics Standards were estimated to cost the power sector hundreds of millions of dollars. In January 2024, the Energy Department paused new LNG export permits pending a climate review; a federal judge later ordered reviews resumed.
Industry groups and advocates warned that the stack of rules chilled investment and grid reliability.
Winter Is Coming, and So Is the Risk
Many regions of the country are transitioning through fall with winter on the close horizon, when U.S. power and natural gas systems must heat homes and businesses at the same time, which is why debates over greenhouse gas limits on coal and gas-fired plants have immediate reliability stakes.
The rule changes will affect the entire country because of the grid's interconnectedness, according to Fotouhi: "We anticipate the benefit will be across the country because, of course, the electric grid is across state lines and is very interconnected, of course. And so, when we can get more generation online in one part of the country, it helps everyone."
The North American Electric Reliability Corp. said in its 2025–26 winter assessment that peak demand has risen about 20 gigawatts and that prolonged cold can still leave some regions short of energy.
Past winters show the risk. In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri caused widespread blackouts in Texas after gas production froze and generating units tripped. Austin's Fox affiliate reported that the state estimated that Winter Storm Uri directly contributed to the deaths of more than 200 Texans and caused billions of dollars in damage.
Grid operators in ERCOT and the Southwest Power Pool ordered load shedding. A 2014 polar vortex strained the Midwest and East. New England remains vulnerable when pipeline capacity is tight.
Industry groups argued Biden-era carbon-capture rules would force plant retirements, so with these latest rule changes, customers can presumably rely on energy going into winter more than in recent years.
Reprinted with Permission from Just the News - By Amanda Head
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