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The Trump administration will propose scrapping Biden-era climate mandates requiring the nation’s power plants to curb planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions as soon as Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter.
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The Environmental Protection Agency is also set to advance a plan for unwinding limits on mercury and other toxic air pollution from the facilities, said the people, who asked not to be named because the measures aren’t yet public.
The proposals, which are among the administration’s most substantial deregulatory moves yet on environmental policy, would repeal EPA limits on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from coal-fired and natural gas power plants, said the people. Former President Joe Biden had imposed the restrictions that effectively compel the use of carbon capture technology to curb planet-warming pollution.
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The EPA also plans to ease stringent standards limiting the emission of mercury, particulate matter and other pollutants that necessitate the installation of costly pollution controls at coal-fired power plants.
The moves, which will be subject to a public comment period before they can be finalized, come as the Trump administration prioritizes the expansion of domestic energy development, citing a massive surge in power demand from artificial intelligence. Opponents of the Biden-era limits have argued the mandates would unnecessarily shutter coal-power plants and discourage the construction of new gas-fired facilities.
Industry and environmental stakeholders expect the administration to assert that repealing the greenhouse gas emission curbs would have no meaningful impact on public health and welfare since planet-warming pollution from coal- and gas-fired power plants generate only a small share of emissions. President Donald Trump vowed to “terminate” those requirements while campaigning last year.
“President Trump promised to kill the Clean Power Plan in his first term, and we continue to build on that progress now,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement sent Monday. “In reconsidering the Biden-Harris rule that ran afoul of Supreme Court case law, we are seeking to ensure that the agency follows the rule of law while providing all Americans with access to reliable and affordable energy.”
The EPA declined to comment Tuesday, but later issued an advisory saying Zeldin plans to make a major policy announcement Wednesday at 2pm New York time at the agency’s Washington headquarters.
Shares of Peabody Energy Corp., a US coal producer, jumped from a loss to a gain of 1.6% at 3:12 p.m. in New York. Peabody didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
EPA data show the electric power sector is the second biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the US behind transportation. Scientists say the world needs to rapidly curtail the pollution to restrain global warming and avoid escalating, catastrophic consequences of climate change.
“Scrapping these two Clean Air Act protections will impose profound costs on millions of people in America, including more serious illnesses and more premature deaths,” the Environmental Defense Fund said in an email.
(Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP — the parent company of Bloomberg News — committed $500 million to Beyond Carbon, a campaign aimed at closing the remaining coal-fired power plants in the US by 2030 and halting the development of new natural gas-fired plants. He also started a campaign to close a quarter of the world’s remaining coal plants and all proposed coal plants by 2025.)
— With assistance from Brian Eckhouse and Will Wade
(Adds information on timing of announcement in eighth paragraph.)
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