By Amanda Head
Republican officials and fossil-fuel advocates have long argued that Biden-era climate rules threatened coal plants, new gas generation and export projects, even as U.S. crude output and dry natural gas production would go on to set records. The EPA said it will save taxpayers $310 billion through 2047.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a repeal of nearly all the Biden administration’s 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards for greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants, an action the agency said would save taxpayers $310 billion through 2047.
“Costs will go down for consumers on their electric bills, and it will also mean that electric generators can invest money into the electric grid, into ensuring grid stability, so that when folks need the lights to stay on, that they will stay on, and that electricity will be there when it’s needed most for businesses, for hospitals, for families across the country,” EPA deputy administrator David Fotouhi told Just The News.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the rule at the G20 Energy Abundance Ministerial in Houston, saying the 2024 standards exceeded Clean Air Act authority by relying on carbon-capture technology that was not adequately demonstrated and by ignoring the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in West Virginia v. EPA.
The agency simultaneously proposed eliminating all remaining power-sector greenhouse gas standards, projecting an extra $370 million in direct compliance savings. EPA officials said coal production for electricity could rise more than tenfold and that the changes would lower electricity prices and restore baseload reliability.
LNG got parked while methane got billed under Biden
Republican officials and fossil-fuel groups have long argued that Biden-era climate rules threatened coal plants, new gas generation and export projects, even as U.S. crude output and dry natural gas production would later set records.
The centerpiece was the EPA’s 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards, which required many existing coal units and new baseload gas plants to cut carbon deeply, often via carbon capture, or retire. Coal advocates said the rule would force widespread plant closures as electricity demand rose. The Trump EPA this month repealed most of that package and projected $310 billion in savings.
Other measures drew similar fire. A 2023-24 methane rule and Inflation Reduction Act waste emissions charge raised compliance costs for oil and gas operators. Tightened Mercury and Air Toxics Standards were estimated to cost the power sector hundreds of millions of dollars. In January 2024 the Energy Department paused new LNG export permits pending a climate review; a federal judge later ordered reviews resumed.
