LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The Trump administration is repealing limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal and natural gas power plants. Power plants are the second-largest source of carbon dioxide that heats the planet in the U.S. The Biden administration had finalized rules limiting climate pollution from plants that use fossil fuels. NPR's Julia Simon reports on the reversal.
JULIA SIMON, HOST:
On Monday afternoon, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin took the stage in Houston at the G20 Energy Abundance Ministerial Summit, standing in front of a sign with pictures of oil pump jacks. He was there to talk about power plants.
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LEE ZELDIN: Today we are cutting the red tape to deliver the largest power sector deregulatory action ever.
SIMON: He said the EPA is getting rid of Biden-era rules for power plants. Those rules would have required coal and new natural gas plants to install pollution control equipment. That would have significantly reduced carbon dioxide emissions, starting in the 2030s. And Zeldin says the EPA will rescind the remaining greenhouse gas emission standards for power plants.
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ZELDIN: All of them.
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SIMON: Zeldin says the actions will save American businesses and families billions of dollars, and he wants the U.S. to use more coal and more natural gas, which he calls affordable. But according to an analysis by financial services firm Lazard, electricity from large-scale solar and wind is actually more affordable than power from both coal and natural gas plants. And Gudrun Thompson, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, says the EPA proposal also has public health costs. She says it would increase harmful pollutants.
GUDRUN THOMPSON: Like ground-level ozone or smog.
SIMON: And while the EPA said in its announcement that, quote, greenhouse gas emissions from power plants "have no material impact on climate change," energy and climate experts tell NPR that is false. Michael Gerrard, an environmental law professor at Columbia University, says the U.S. should be reducing climate pollution, not allowing more emissions.
MICHAEL GERRARD: 2026 is shaping up to be the warmest year in recorded history, and we ain't seen nothing yet.
SIMON: Gerrard says environmental groups will likely challenge this in court.
Julia Simon, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE'S "ELK RIVER") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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