WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed repealing rules that limit planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas, an action that Administrator Lee Zeldin said would remove billions of dollars in costs for industry and help 鈥渦nleash鈥 American energy.
The EPA also proposed weakening a regulation that requires power plants to and other toxic pollutants that can harm the brain development of young children and contribute to heart attacks and other health problems in adults.
The rollbacks are meant to fulfill Republican President Donald Trump's repeated pledge to 鈥 鈥 and make it more affordable for Americans to power their homes and operate businesses.
If approved and made final, the plans would reverse efforts by Democratic President Joe Biden's administration to address and improve conditions in areas heavily burdened by industrial pollution, mostly in low-income and majority Black or Hispanic communities.
The power plant rules are among about 30 environmental regulations that Zeldin targeted in March when he announced what he called the
Zeldin said Wednesday the new rules would help end what he called the Biden and Obama administrations鈥 鈥渨ar on so much of our U.S. domestic energy supply.鈥
鈥淭he American public spoke loudly and clearly last November,'' he added in a speech at EPA headquarters. 鈥淭hey wanted to make sure that 鈥 no matter what agency anybody might be confirmed to lead, we are finding opportunities to pursue common-sense, pragmatic solutions that will help reduce the cost of living 鈥 create jobs and usher in a golden era of American prosperity.鈥
Environmental and public health groups called the rollbacks dangerous and vowed to challenge the rules in court.
Dr. Lisa Patel, a pediatrician and executive director of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health, called the proposals 鈥測et another in a series of attacks鈥 by the Trump administration on the nation's 鈥渉ealth, our children, our climate and the basic idea of clean air and water.鈥
She called it 鈥渦nconscionable to think that our country would move backwards on something as common sense as protecting children from mercury and our planet from worsening hurricanes, wildfires, floods and poor air quality driven by climate change.鈥
鈥淚gnoring the immense harm to public health from power plant pollution is a clear violation of the law,'' added Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council. 鈥淚f EPA finalizes a slapdash effort to repeal those rules, we鈥檒l see them in court.鈥
The EPA-targeted rules and save $275 billion each year they are in effect, according to that included the agency鈥檚 own prior assessments and a wide range of other research.
It鈥檚 by no means guaranteed that the rules will be entirely eliminated 鈥 they can鈥檛 be changed without going through a federal rulemaking process that can take years and requires public comment and scientific justification.
Even a partial dismantling of the rules would mean 鈥 and especially more tiny airborne particles that can lodge in lungs and cause health problems, the AP analysis found. It would also mean higher emissions of greenhouse gases, driving Earth鈥檚 warming to deadlier levels.
Biden, a Democrat, had made fighting climate change . Coal-fired power plants would be forced to under a strict EPA rule issued last year. Then-EPA head Michael Regan said the power plant rules would reduce pollution and improve public health while supporting a reliable, long-term supply of electricity.
The power sector is the nation鈥檚 second-largest contributor to climate change, after transportation.
In its proposed regulation, the Trump EPA argues that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from fossil fuel-fired power plants 鈥渄o not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution鈥 or climate change and therefore do not meet a threshold under the Clean Air Act for regulatory action. Greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas-fired plants 鈥渁re a small and decreasing part of global emissions,'' the EPA said, adding: 鈥淭his Administration鈥檚 priority is to promote the public health or welfare through energy dominance and independence secured by using fossil fuels to generate power.鈥
The Clean Air Act allows the EPA to limit emissions from power plants and other industrial sources if those emissions significantly contribute to air pollution that endangers public health.
If fossil fuel plants no longer meet the EPA鈥檚 threshold, the Trump administration may later argue that other pollutants from other industrial sectors don鈥檛 either and therefore shouldn鈥檛 be regulated, said Meghan Greenfield, a former EPA and Justice Department lawyer now in private practice at Jenner & Block LLP.
The EPA proposal 鈥渉as the potential to have much, much broader implications,鈥 she said.
Zeldin, a former New York congressman, said the Biden-era rules were designed to 鈥渟uffocate our economy in order to protect the environment,鈥 with the intent to regulate the coal industry 鈥渙ut of existence鈥 and make it 鈥渄isappear.鈥
好色tv Mining Association president and CEO Rich Nolan applauded the new rules, saying they remove 鈥渄eliberately unattainable standards鈥 for clean air while 鈥渓eveling the playing field for reliable power sources, instead of stacking the deck against them.鈥
But Dr. Howard Frumkin, a former director of the 好色tv Center for Environmental Health and professor emeritus at the University of Washington School of Public Health, said Zeldin and Trump were trying to deny reality.
鈥淭he world is round, the sun rises in the east, coal- and gas-fired power plants contribute significantly to climate change, and climate change increases the risk of heat waves, catastrophic storms and many other health threats,鈥 Frumkin said. 鈥淭hese are indisputable facts. If you torpedo regulations on power plant greenhouse gas emissions, you torpedo the health and well-being of the American public and contribute to leaving a world of risk and suffering to our children and grandchildren.鈥
A paper published earlier this year in the journal Science found the Biden-era rules could reduce U.S. power sector carbon emissions by 73% to 86% below 2005 levels by 2040, compared with a reduction of 60% to 83% without the rules.
鈥淐arbon emissions in the power sector drop at a faster rate with the (Biden-era) rules in place than without them,鈥 said Aaron Bergman, a fellow at Resources for the Future, a nonprofit research institution and a co-author of the Science paper. The Biden rule also would result in 鈥渟ignificant reductions in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, pollutants that harm human health,鈥 he said.
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Associated Press writers Michael Phillis and Seth Borenstein contributed to this story.
