US Revokes Limits on Power Plants' Climate Pollution
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on September 14 that it is repealing limits on climate-warming pollution from coal and gas-fired power plants, the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country. By gutting the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards, the EPA is eliminating most of the limits on power plants' carbon emissions — one of the Trump administration's most significant attacks yet on the federal government's ability to confront the climate crisis and protect communities devastated by pollution.
The 2024 standards required existing coal plants and new gas plants to capture 90 percent of their carbon emissions or shut down by 2039, which would have reduced carbon pollution by an estimated 1.38 billion metric tons through 2047. The Biden-era rule was also projected to help reduce power plants' emissions of health-harming pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and fine particulate matter. Human Rights Watch has documented how such pollutants from industrial operations can degrade air quality and harm nearby communities; its research in countries including Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Türkiye has shown how coal-fired plants in particular can emit pollution contributing to dangerous air pollution levels. The Biden administration estimated the 2024 standards would prevent 1,200 deaths and 360,000 asthma attacks in the U.S. in 2035 alone.
The EPA claimed its repeal would save businesses $370 million in regulatory costs but did not say what the costs to public health would be. In January the agency said it would no longer factor in health costs when estimating the economic impact of pollution limits. In its announcement rescinding the 2024 carbon standards, the EPA also proposed removing "all remaining greenhouse gas emissions requirements for power plants," arguing these emissions do not impact climate change. In 2025, the agency also revoked its 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health — a finding grounded in scientific evidence that had provided a legal foundation for federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.
The rollback comes as communities across the country and the world are already contending with the consequences of the climate crisis, prompting Human Rights Watch's call for the EPA to restore the 2024 standards and strengthen regulation of the fossil fuel industry.