Rules aimed at limiting pollution from coal and gas power plants are being scrapped, the head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced. The agency says that getting rid of the majority of the Biden-era rules, aimed at improving health and curbing climate change, will save $310bn (£223bn) and lead to a decrease in energy prices. "The reality is that America produces energy better and cleaner than anywhere else in the world, and our power plants should not be unfairly targeted," the head of the EPA, Lee Zeldin, said.
Some have criticised the move, arguing it will affect public health and set back progress on developing renewable energy sources. Fossil fuels, which include coal and natural gas, are by far the largest driver of global climate change, according to the United Nations. The said in a statement that it found the rules on power plant emissions that were introduced under former President Joe Biden had "exceeded the agency's authority" by "requiring control technologies that are not adequately demonstrated, effectively forcing plants to retire rather than setting standards they could actually meet".
The is also seeking to get rid of all other greenhouse gas rules for the power sector. The changes were proposed last year by Zeldin, who said they would "ensure affordable and reliable energy supplies and drive down the costs of transportation, heating, utilities, farming, and manufacturing while boosting our national security". The Biden-era regulations called for a major reduction in carbon emissions from power plants, as well as vehicles and industrial facilities.
It was predicted that the measures would stop 4,500 premature deaths annually. "Any potential public health harms are too uncertain, conjectural, remote, and convoluted to tie specifically to the US power sector," the said on Monday. Nathaniel Keohane, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions – an independent environmental organisation – described the move as "a giant step backward".
"In repealing carbon pollution standards for power plants, has ignored sound science and economics and abdicated its responsibility to protect public health and welfare," Keohane added. The US is currently the second-biggest emitter of planet-warming greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, behind China. And the power sector makes up about a quarter of US emissions, at roughly 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent each year, according to the latest available estimates.
That means the US power sector emissions are higher than the total emissions of all but a handful of countries. US power sector emissions have been generally falling over the past couple of decades, albeit with a slight uptick last year, as coal use has fallen. But Trump has long argued for a resurgence in coal power and has regularly criticised renewables such as wind and solar.
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