Trump EPA attacks U.S. protections against power plant pollution

(WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 14, 2026) - The Trump EPA announced today that it will get rid of life-saving national limits on the amount of climate pollution that fossil fuel power plants are allowed to put into our air.

Although EPA claims the rollback will lead to cost savings for industrial emitters, it refused to estimate the much more massive health costs - including premature deaths, hospital visits and illnesses -- the American people would have to bear because of being exposed to higher levels of power plant pollution. Preliminary analysis by Environmental Defense Fund indicates that the increased pollution resulting from this rule would cause more than one trillion dollars in additional health costs and more than 80,000 additional premature deaths through 2047. It would also result in more than $1.8 trillion in cumulative climate-related harms over the same period of time. (Number were calculated using a 2% discount rate.)

"The Trump EPA is tearing down our national limits on the extensive and dangerous pollution from power plant smokestacks -- just as data centers and other drivers are increasing this harmful pollution," said Vickie Patton, General Counsel for Environmental Defense Fund. "Climate pollution is imposing urgent costs and serious health impacts on people's lives, from the dangerous heat, fire, smoke and drought we experienced this summer to steeper insurance and health care bills that go with those disasters. Clean, affordable and reliable technologies are widely available to power our homes and businesses and help people make ends meet. EDF will oppose this harmful action in court."

Last year, the Trump EPA proposed repealing the Carbon Pollution Standards power plants. Its own analysis at the time found that eliminating these protections would cause thousands of premature deaths and tens of billions of dollars in increased health costs for Americans.

Today, Trump EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced his final decision that largely matches the proposal. Today's action would remove all limits on carbon pollution from existing coal-fired power plants and eliminate requirements that the most heavily utilized new gas-fired power plants eventually reduce 90% of their carbon pollution. The final rule does not include any assessment of the lost lives, increased hospital visits, new asthma cases, and other health costs that would result from the increased pollution from power plants caused by this attack on clean air protections.

Administrator Zeldin also announced another proposal which seeks to block EPA from ever setting limits on carbon pollution from power plants in the future - even though two Supreme Court decisions from 2011 and 2022 have clearly affirmed EPA's legal authority to do so. EPA must now hold a public comment period for that proposal.

Coal, gas and oil-fired power plants are responsible for about one-quarter of our nation's total climate pollution, second only to the transportation sector - and recent analyses have found that this pollution is increasing, in part due to rising demand from data centers. The extensive pollution from these power plants is one of the largest sources of climate-destabilizing pollution in the world.  

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