Rules aimed at limiting carbon emissions originating from coal and gas-fired power plants in the U.S. have been revoked, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Monday.
The move marks the latest in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump's dismantling of regulations favoring clean energy since his return to office in 2025.
"The Trump Administration has come in to protect American energy and to make sure you can afford to keep the lights on," EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement announcing the finalization of a rule proposed last year.
The rule change represents a fundamental shift from efforts by Democratic Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama to address climate change and clean up industrial pollution.
Environmental groups decried the change, saying it would come at a cost to Americans’ health and further degrade the environment.
Revoking the Biden-era power plant rule would save industry more than $300 billion in costs and help “unleash” American energy, the EPA said. The change will allow utilities to make the best decisions for their ratepayers rather than be forced to close aging or inefficient plants, said EPA Assistant Administrator Aaron Szabo.
The power plant rule, to take effect soon after publication in the Federal Register, is expected to face immediate legal challenges.
The announcements came as EPA chief Zeldin, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright host a G-20 ministerial meeting on “energy abundance" in Houston.
The announcement of the rule, coming on the same day, is both a nod to the important role oil-rich Texas plays in the energy industry and a potential snub of European and other international allies in attendance who have pursued environmentally friendly policies that the Trump administration has moved to undo.
Trump called climate change “the greatest con job everperpetrated on the world” at a speech to the U.N. last year, and his administration also withdrew the U.S. for the second time from the 2015 Paris climate accord that sets voluntary goals to curb planet-warming emissions.
