Lee Zeldin has been sworn in as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) 17th administrator, inheriting an agency that the power industry sees as increasingly central to the future of U.S. energy policy, grid reliability, and regulatory uncertainty.
At his confirmation hearing Zeldin, a former congressman from New York’s First District with a background in law and military service, pledged to balance environmental protection with economic growth, positioning himself as a pragmatic regulator rather than an activist enforcer. “Our mission is simple but essential: to protect human health and the environment,” he said. “We must do everything in our power to harness the greatness of American innovation with the greatness of American conservation and environmental stewardship. We must ensure we are protecting the environment while also protecting our economy.”
As a key fixture in the Trump administration’s cabinet, Zeldin will oversee a federal agency that, under the Biden administration’s past four years, promulgated a series of stringent environmental regulations directly affecting the power sector. These include tighter restrictions on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, such as the EPA’s , which mandates the installation of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) for coal and some gas power plants. The Biden EPA also expanded the regulation of , limiting storage and reuse options for coal ash and increasing compliance costs for fossil fuel plants. Additionally, EPA pursued for power plants, tightening water discharge standards, and , including the controversial “,” which placed stricter emissions limits on power plants across multiple states.
Collectively, the rules have drawn fierce opposition from some power companies, which argue they impose onerous compliance costs, jeopardize grid reliability, and force premature fossil fuel plant retirements. are ongoing for several rules.
But other segments of the power industry have supported the Biden administration’s efforts to integrate decarbonization into energy policy, recognizing the long-term benefits of transitioning to cleaner energy sources, including to bolster innovation, resilience, and sustainable growth. The power industry, meanwhile, generally championed initiatives such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which it acknowledges have provided substantial incentives for renewable energy development, grid modernization, and carbon reduction technologies and spurred investments for solar, wind, energy storage, nuclear, and carbon capture projects.
Some Power Companies Have Urged Immediate Action
Zeldin begins his tenure as EPA administrator facing immediate and urgent demands from the power sector. In a executives from major power companies urged “swift and sustained action” by the Trump administration to support efforts “ to ensure electricity is available, affordable, and reliable power. “Recent changes made by the EPA to air, water, and waste regulations have resulted in significant burdens on the nation’s power sector without tangible benefits,” the letter states. “These regulations, individually and collectively, threaten the reliability of the power grid, jeopardize national security, are a drag on economic growth, increase inflation, and hinder the expansion of electric power generation to support the critical development and deployment of artificial intelligence and related technologies.”
The letter, signed by representatives from Duke Energy, Vistra, Talen Energy, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Lower Colorado River Authority, City Utilities of Springfield, Missouri, Southern Illinois Cooperative, Gavin Power, Ohio Valley Electric Corp., and Louisville Gas and Electric Co. & Kentucky Utilities Energy identifies two rules as top priorities for immediate repeal: the , and .
The letter strongly opposes the GHG rule, calling it an indirect attempt to eliminate coal-fired power from the U.S. generation mix while also restricting natural gas development. “If not quickly rescinded, the GHG Rule issued under the Biden administration will have grave consequences for the reliability of the nation’s power system and the cost of electricity by simultaneously forcing the retirement of most coal-fired power plants by 2032 and limiting the output of new natural gas-fired plants to a mere 40% of their capability,” the letter warns.
The signatories also argue that CCS technology, required for new gas plants, is not yet commercially viable at the scale required by the rule, making compliance impossible within the EPA’s timeline. “Any new gas-fired power plants that will operate at greater than 40% of their capacity factor (i.e., the plant generates an amount of electricity that is more than 40% of what the plant was designed to generate) must install by 2032 CCS that captures 90% of the plant’s GHG emissions,” the letter notes. “Because 90% CCS is infeasible and could not be put in place by 2032 even if it were feasible, the GHG Rule effectively forces any new gas-fired power plants to operate at less than 40% of their capabilities, thereby imposing unnecessary and wasteful costs on electric utilities (and the public) by requiring the construction of at least twice as many units to meet electric demand.”
The letter notes that 25 states and industry parties have challenged the GHG rule at the D.C. Circuit. Oral argument was held in December, and the D.C. Circuit is expected to issue a decision soon. “Since the GHG Rule has not been stayed, its deadlines are approaching, and States and regulated entities will be forced soon to make choices that may be difficult, if not impossible, to reverse,” it notes.
The letter urges Zeldin and the Trump administration to act immediately by issuing an executive order to re-examine the GHG Rule, directing the Department of Justice to seek a court stay to halt enforcement deadlines, using administrative authority to postpone compliance mandates, and formally repealing the rule through new rulemaking, citing its legal overreach and infeasibility.
The EPA’s expanded CCR regulations, which impose stricter federal oversight on coal ash disposal, impoundment closures, and beneficial use, also require attention, the letter says. “EPA’s recent unprecedented expansion of the federal CCR regulations has needlessly diverted funds from the power sector’s efforts to meet the nation’s growing energy needs,” it states. The signatories argue that coal ash has long been safely used in construction and manufacturing and that the new rules will restrict this practice, increasing costs and dependence on foreign imports for building materials.
The letter also notably criticizes the EPA for making last-minute regulatory revisions without proper public comment and claims the agency’s risk assessment was based on incomplete and flawed data. “EPA developed the new regulations before even conducting a risk assessment, and its after-the-fact assessment was based on incomplete data, inappropriate methodologies, and unreasonable assumptions,” the letter states.
The signatories call for an overhaul of the CCR rules, urging the agency to suspend new rules until a full review is completed, stop defending the “Legacy Impoundment Rule” in court, and reverse restrictions on on-site CCR use to reaffirm its exemption from federal oversight. The letter also demands that the EPA halt recent enforcement actions and rescind groundwater contact requirements, which the letter argues impose unnecessary costs with no tangible environmental benefits.
In addition, the power companies urged Zeldin to review and reconsider the “Good Neighbor Plan,”which they suggested Supreme Court has already flagged as likely unlawful, revisions to ELGs, and EPA’s expanded enforcement actions against coal plants for environmental compliance issues. “These other recent rules, like the GHG and CCR rules, do not further EPA’s statutory mission to protect human health and the environment and instead will result in unnecessary costs on the power sector, impacting the affordability and reliability of electricity,” the letter states.
More Action Possible
The Trump administration on Jan. 20—on the first day—indicated it is cognizant of some of these issues. Among a flurry of executive orders,President Trump declared a “national energy emergency,” ordering agencies to useto use emergency powers—including the Defense Production Act, expedited permitting, and streamlined environmental reviews—to remove barriers to energy development. However, the White House did not explicitly rescind EPA rules.
During his confirmation hearing, Zeldin offered little insight into how the EPA will address industry concerns. Asked by Sen. Shelley Capito how the agency would balance reliability and affordability with its environmental mandate, he provided a muted response, stressing the EPA’s commitment to following existing laws, ensuring transparency, and collaborating with other agencies and Congress. “It’s important that the EPA is honoring our obligations under the law, fulfilling the historic landmark laws that are on the books like the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act,” Zeldin said. “It’s important that the EPA is accountable and transparent to all of you here on this Committee.”
While Zeldin avoided specifics on regulatory rollbacks, he highlighting the Supreme Court’s recent decision, which limits agency discretion, as a guiding principle for future EPA rulemaking.
—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior editor (, ).
