EPA Finalizes Repeal of Power Plant Climate Rules

A study found that air pollution levels in countries where U.S. embassies and consulates had monitored and publicly reported air quality rose 24% to 33% in the months after the Trump administration ended the program in March 2025; researchers said the initiative had helped residents recognize health risks and encouraged governments to improve air quality. Separately, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized its repeal of Biden-era requirements for existing coal plants and new gas plants to reduce or capture most of their greenhouse-gas emissions, while seeking to restrict future federal regulation of power-sector climate pollution. The Trump administration says the rollback will save utilities and industry roughly $300 billion or more, lower electricity costs and support expanded coal and gas generation, while environmental groups and public-health experts warn it could increase greenhouse-gas emissions and exposure to pollutants including particulate matter, mercury and lead and have vowed to sue. EPA is also considering weakening leak-inspection and equipment-upgrade requirements for more than 700,000 low-producing oil and gas wells, which produce about 6% of U.S. oil and gas but account for roughly half of the sector’s methane pollution.