EPA set to repeal Biden pollution rules for fossil fuel power plants

The Environmental Protection Agency is poised to roll back pollution standards for fossil fuel power plants, a measure the Trump administration argues will strengthen the power grid and lower customer costs. But environmentalists say it will worsen climate change.The EPA is expected to announce on Monday at the G20 Ministerial Meeting on Energy Abundance in Houston, Texas, a final rule repealing regulations on carbon and toxic emissions from fossil fuel plants, a source familiar with the EPA’s plans told the Washington Examiner. The action would represent one of the Trump administration’s biggest blows yet against emissions reductions regulations put in place by Democrats.The standards in question were finalized during the Biden administration and required new and existing plants to reduce carbon pollution by installing carbon capture, sequestration, and storage technology. Industry figures said that the technology to meet the requirements does not yet exist, and that the rules would effectively close most plants. A source with knowledge of the EPA plan told the Washington Examiner that the final rule would rescind key provisions of the 2024 power plant rule, including the elimination of carbon capture requirements. It would keep certain efficiency standards for new and reconstructed combustion turbines.The EPA is also proposing a supplemental rule and opening a public comment period on whether the agency should remove all greenhouse gas requirements for fossil fuel power plants, including the 2015 standards for new coal-fired power plants and the remaining aspects of the 2024 power plant rule.The EPA announced plans to undo the standards in June. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin at the time said that their final rule would “deliver savings to American families on electricity bills, and it will ensure that they have the electricity that they need today.” Zeldin argued that the Biden standards sought to regulate coal, oil, and gas out of existence. The Trump EPA has sought to repeal the climate-related rules finalized during the Biden administration. Power plant emission standards have been subject to a regulatory tug-of-war since former President Barack Obama, whose administration’s rule on power plant pollution was stayed by the Supreme Court. The first Trump administration proposed a much more limited rule, but the D.C. Circuit Court later deemed it illegal just before Biden entered office.During the Biden administration, the Supreme Court limited the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon emissions in the case of West Virginia v. EPA. The Biden administration later finalized a new regulation on carbon pollutants for power plants, tailoring it to comply with the high court ruling.Now, the regulation is being reversed once again, setting up another legal battle. Fossil fuel power plants are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 5% of global emissions since 1990.The regulatory rollback marks another significant move by the agency to follow up on its repeal of the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which concluded that six greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, pose a threat to public health and welfare.DOE OFFERS $16 MILLION FOR MINING PROGRAMS TO COUNTER CHINA’S CONTROL OF THE SUPPLY CHAINIn January, American Petroleum Institute President Mike Sommers noted that the group supported repealing the Endangerment Finding but stopped short of backing the repeal of greenhouse gas regulations for power plants and other stationary industrial facilities.“We would not support repealing the endangerment finding for stationary sources, and one of the reasons why we wouldn’t support that is because we do support the federal regulation of methane,” Sommers said.