The Trump administration’s rollback of power plant emissions standards is expected to keep older coal and gas-fired facilities operating for longer, as the United States seeks additional electricity for data centres and the artificial intelligence boom.
The Environmental Protection Agency said it had finalised the repeal of emissions-reduction requirements introduced under Joe Biden to address climate change. The announcement came shortly after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the US had experienced its warmest summer on record, with temperatures around 3F above average.
Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator, described the move as “the largest power sector deregulatory action ever” during the G20 energy ministerial in Houston on Monday.
The 2024 Biden standards were designed to require power plants either to reduce their emissions or use technology capable of capturing 90% of their climate pollution. The Trump administration is also proposing to withdraw the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants in future.
Supporters of the rollback argue that keeping existing plants available could help meet current electricity needs while newer sources of power are developed. Dan Romito, a managing director at Opportune who oversees sustainability, said coal could provide a temporary bridge as the energy market expanded its use of geothermal and nuclear power.
“It’s a Band-Aid for a lot of these data centers to figure out how to get replacement or complementary power,” Mr Romito said. “We need a little bit of a stopgap here. It’s not an ideal choice. But coal can fill that bill for three, four, maybe five years.”
He said the need was particularly pressing because power projects were being announced but many had yet to begin construction, while congressional efforts to speed up permitting for clean and fossil-fuel energy appeared unlikely to succeed this year.
“This power is not going to magically come out of nowhere,” Mr Romito said. “You’re going to have to keep coal-fired power plants and gas-fired power plants online longer, not necessarily to fulfil the anticipated demand, but to meet what demand is currently today.”
He argued that the policy could also give major technology companies and investors more confidence to proceed with modernised plants, which would be more efficient and produce fewer emissions than older coal facilities.
Legal fight over power plant emissions
Environmental groups condemned the decision, saying it would increase pollution, deaths and healthcare costs. Holly Bender, the Sierra Club’s chief programme officer, accused the administration of giving the fossil-fuel industry permission to continue polluting while communities faced wildfires and floods.
Fossil-fuel power plants account for almost a quarter of the country’s total climate pollution, according to the material released with the EPA announcement, second only to transport.
The EPA said emissions from power plants had “no material impact on global climate change”. Critics called that assertion false and said the rollback represented a rejection of established climate science.
The administration argues that the federal Clean Air Act does not specifically refer to climate change and that the EPA therefore lacks the authority to regulate it. The agency has already overturned its 2009 finding that carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases pose a threat to public health, as well as repealing rules governing emissions from motor vehicles.
Legal challenges to the power plant decision are expected. Mr Zeldin said: “If you have a problem with the law, change the law.”
Asked whether the changes would lead to more data centres using coal, he said the EPA would not dictate that choice but would seek to ensure that energy decisions complied with the law and supported “energy dominance” in the US.
