EPA Moves to Scrap Biden Power Plant Rule, Saying Federal Law Doesn’t Allow Climate Change Regulations

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that it is moving to repeal a greenhouse gas regulation the EPA imposed under President Joe Biden, saying federal law does not allow the agency to regulate power plant emissions in order to fight climate change.

“The proposed rule takes the position that it is beyond our authority in the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases for climate change for power plants,” Aaron Szabo, assistant administrator of the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, told reporters on an embargoed call Monday.

“The years the Obama and Biden administrations worked to destroy coal and natural gas are over,” he declared.

The EPA has yet to finalize the rule, but if the agency does so, Szabo said that “it would prevent a future EPA from being able to regulate greenhouse gas emissions for global climate change for power plants.”

The EPA estimates that the rescission of the Biden greenhouse gas regulations will save consumers $310 billion. Szabo clarified that the new rule will not affect “the regulation of any hazardous air pollutants,” or the regulation of greenhouse gases for other purposes—just the regulation of greenhouse gases for combating climate change.

The Biden Rule

In April 2024, the Biden EPA released new rules requiring certain coal plants to reduce their emissions by 90% by 2032, and forcing new natural gas plants to offset most of their emissions.

Szabo noted that the Clean Air Act of 1970 gave the EPA authority to “set emissions standards when there is adequate evidence and technology to support them,” and said the Biden EPA’s standards relied on carbon capture technology that had not been “adequately demonstrated.”

He also faulted the Biden EPA for ignoring the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA (2022), in which the court ruled 6-3 that the EPA does not have the authority to broadly restructure America’s energy sector by forcing power plants to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.

“Even if we eliminated all greenhouse gas emissions from power plants tomorrow, there would be no meaningful impact on global climate change,” Szabo added.

The Clean Air Act

The Clean Air Act directed the EPA to regulate “any air pollutant” that could “endanger public health or welfare.” After the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the EPA must consider “whether greenhouse gas emissions contribute to climate change,” the Obama administration issued an Endangerment Finding in 2009, finding that greenhouse gas emissions harm public health via climate change.

Yet EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced earlier this year that the EPA would rescind that finding, which would remove the legal scaffolding for many federal greenhouse gas regulations.

On Monday’s call, Szabo distinguished between the EPA’s authority to regulate “local and regional” impacts and the claimed authority to regulate global impacts, which he said lay outside Congress’ intent with the Clean Air Act.

Szabo argued that Congress intended the Clean Air Act to address pollutants with local and regional effects rather than an alleged global phenomenon like climate change, where the link between pollutants and effects is harder to demonstrate concretely.

Climate activist groups have pledged to sue the EPA to block the rule, the Associated Press reported.

“Tearing down our national protections against climate pollution from power plants will have enormous costs for the health, safety and well-being of families across the country,” Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, told the AP.

Savings for the Consumer

The EPA claims the new regulations will save consumers hundreds of billions of dollars, in addition to an additional $370 million savings in direct compliance costs.

Szabo said the new EPA rule “allows utilities to make the best decision for the ratepayers for cost,” resulting in “more reliable energy for consumers.”

In a statement on the move, Zeldin said it represents “just the beginning.”

“We are working to go even further so that American energy can be fully unleashed,” the administrator promised. “Realizing the full potential of American energy means more jobs, lower prices, and a more prosperous America.”

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