The EPA argues that gases from fossil fuel power plants do not contribute significantly to climate change.

On Saturday, The New York Times publish a report showing that the U.S. administration is advancing plans to eliminate all federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants across the United States.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drafted a regulation arguing that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from fossil fuel power plants “do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution” or climate change, the report said, citing the EPA’s documents sent to the White House for review on May 2.

The proposal directly contradicted established climate science and the agency’s own data. According to the EPA’s Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions website, power plants were responsible for roughly 25 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, making them the second-largest source of heat-trapping gases behind transportation.

Moreover, these facilities emitted approximately 1.36 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2023, exceeding the total emissions of most countries worldwide.

“Fossil fuel power plants are the single largest industrial source of climate destabilizing carbon dioxide in the United States,” said Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund.

She called the proposed regulation “an abuse of the EPA’s responsibility under the law,” adding that it “flies in the face of common sense and puts millions of people in harm’s way.”

The EPA’s justification centered on the argument that U.S. power sector emissions represented only about 3 percent of worldwide greenhouse gases in 2022, down from 5.5 percent in 2005. Agency officials contended that even if American power plants eliminated all their greenhouse gas emissions, global public health risks would not be “meaningfully” improved.

However, climate scientists overwhelmingly reject this reasoning. According to the United Nations Climate Action website, fossil fuels account for more than 75 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90 percent of carbon dioxide emissions.

The power plant deregulation represents the latest phase in the Donald Trump administration’s comprehensive assault on climate policies. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced on March 12 what he called “the most consequential day of deregulation in American history,” targeting more than 30 environmental measures established during the Joe Biden administration.

The Trump administration has already moved to terminate US$20 billion in grants for climate and clean-energy projects. However, a federal judge temporarily blocked this action, noting the EPA had failed to provide adequate legal justification.

Trump’s budget plan would slash EPA funding by nearly 55 percent compared to 2025 levels and eliminate 15 billion in carbon capture and renewable energy funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law. The proposed regulation would overturn Biden-era rules that required existing coal-fired units and some new gas-burning plants to cut or capture 90 percent of their climate pollution by 2032. 

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Source: Xinhua

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