EPA Rolls Back Power Plant Emissions Limits

The Trump administration's EPA announced Monday a rollback of Biden-era greenhouse-gas limits on coal- and natural-gas-fired power plants and proposed eliminating nearly all remaining federal limits on those emissions. The EPA estimates roughly $160 billion in power-sector savings through 2047. Christine Todd Whitman, EPA administrator under George W. Bush from 2001-2003, told Scripps News the move is "unconscionable," saying it hurts human health especially for the elderly and children and that "EPA has abandoned its core mission." An EPA spokesperson disputed her view, saying the agency follows the law and its core mission, that eliminating all power-plant greenhouse gases would have "no material impact on global climate change, much less public health," and that it delivered over $1.3 trillion in deregulatory savings while still regulating ozone and certain fine particulates. On Thursday environmental and public health groups asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to block the rollback as violating the Clean Air Act. Dr. Georges Benjamin, CEO of the American Public Health Association, said "Clean air is a basic human right" and power plant pollution threatens millions of Americans. More than 100 EPA rules have been eliminated or reviewed in Trump's second term. The lawsuit is pending.