The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that rules aimed at limiting pollution from coal- and gas-fired power plants will be rolled back.
The agency also said it would take steps to prevent future government regulation of power plant emissions.
The Environmental Protection Agency said rolling back most climate regulations under former U.S. President Joe Biden would save $310 billion (2.08 trillion yuan; NT$9.84 trillion) and lower energy prices.
But environmental groups warn the move will come at a huge cost to the health of Americans and the planet. The Environmental Protection Agency's move is expected to face immediate legal challenges.
"The reality is that the United States produces energy better and cleaner than anywhere else in the world, and our power plants should not be unfairly targeted," Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said Monday (September 14).
According to the United Nations, fossil fuels, including coal and natural gas, are the largest drivers of global climate change.
The Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement that the agency believes the Biden-era rules on power plant emissions "exceed the agency's authority."
The agency said the rules require the use of "control technologies that have not yet been fully proven, effectively forcing power plants to retire rather than setting standards they can actually meet."
The EPA also seeks to eliminate all other greenhouse gas regulations in the power industry.
The changes, proposed by Zeldin last year, are expected to be subject to public scrutiny.
He said the new rules would "ensure an affordable and reliable energy supply, lowering the costs of transportation, heating, utilities, agriculture and manufacturing while improving our national security."
Biden-era regulations require deep cuts in carbon emissions from power plants as well as vehicles and industrial facilities. It is estimated that these measures can prevent 4,500 premature deaths every year.
But the EPA said Monday: "Any potential public health hazard is too uncertain, speculative, indirect, and complex to be specifically attributed to the U.S. electric power industry."
Zeldin told reporters that safeguards against "hazardous air pollutants" would remain in place to "protect human health."
Nathaniel Keohane, chairman of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), described the move as a "huge setback".
Keohane added: "By repealing carbon pollution standards for power plants, the Environmental Protection Agency ignores sound science and economics and abdicates its responsibility to protect public health and welfare."
Currently, the United States is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide in the world, second only to China. These gases contribute to global warming.
According to the latest available estimates, the electric power industry accounts for about a quarter of total U.S. emissions, emitting approximately 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually.
This means that the U.S. power sector’s emissions are higher than the combined emissions of most countries.
U.S. power sector emissions have generally been trending downward over the past two decades as coal use declined, although they picked up slightly last year.
But current U.S. President Donald Trump has long advocated revitalizing coal power and often criticized renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.
The exact impact of today's announcement on U.S. emissions and global climate change remains uncertain.
Some researchers question whether coal can still achieve the renaissance Trump hopes for. They note that the cost of many clean technologies, such as solar, has fallen significantly over the past decade.
In 2022, some of the EPA's powers to limit greenhouse gas emissions were weakened after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of 19 states and some of the nation's largest coal companies. The states and coal companies worry about the economic costs of the policy and argue that the agency does not have the authority to limit emissions across the state.
Monday's announcement is the latest step by the Trump administration to roll back policies aimed at combating global warming and climate change.
