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WASHINGTON — <\/span>The Environmental Protection Agency<\/a> is expected to repeal rules that limit planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions<\/a> from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas, an action that Administrator Lee Zeldin has said would remove billions of dollars in costs for the industry and help \u201cunleash\u201d American energy.<\/p>\n The rule change, proposed last year<\/a>, could be announced as soon as Monday, according to two people familiar with the proposal, and represents a fundamental shift from efforts by Democratic Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama to address climate change<\/a> and clean up industrial pollution, often in low-income and majority Black or Hispanic communities.<\/p>\n The rule, which is expected to face immediate legal challenges, also could prevent future administrations from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the people familiar with the proposal said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the rule had not yet been made final.<\/p>\n The EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n The plan to make the rule final was first reported by the New York Times.<\/p>\n The rollbacks are meant to fulfill Republican President Donald Trump\u2019s repeated pledge to \u201c unleash American energy<\/a> \u201d and make it easier for utilities to supply electricity for homes and businesses.<\/p>\n The power plant rule is among nearly three dozen environmental regulations that Zeldin targeted in early 2025 when he announced what he called the \u201cmost consequential day of deregulation<\/a> in American history.\u201d<\/p>\n Zeldin said in proposing the new rules last year that they were meant to end the Biden and Obama administrations\u2019 \u201cwar on so much of our U.S. domestic energy supply.\u201d<\/p>\n Environmental and public health groups called the rollbacks dangerous and vowed to challenge the rules in court.<\/p>\n \u201cTearing down our national protections against climate pollution from power plants will have enormous costs for the health, safety and well-being of families across the country,\u201d said Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund. \u201cAmericans everywhere are already suffering from record-breaking heat, more dangerous floods and storms, and skyrocketing insurance costs.\u201d<\/p>\n The EPA has a legal responsibility to protect the public from harmful pollution, Patton said, adding that \u201cclean, affordable and reliable technologies are widely available to power our homes and businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n Coal, gas and oil-fired\u202fpower\u202fplants\u202fare responsible for\u202fabout one-quarter of the nation\u2019s total climate pollution, second only to the transportation sector.\u202fPollution from power plants is one of the largest sources of climate-changing pollution in the world.<\/p>\n The rules targeted by Trump\u2019s EPA could prevent an estimated 30,000 deaths<\/a> and save $275 billion each year they are in effect, according to an Associated Press examination<\/a> last year that included the agency\u2019s own prior assessments and a wide range of other research.<\/p>\n Even a partial dismantling of the rules would mean more pollutants<\/a> such as smog, mercury and lead \u2014 and especially more tiny airborne particles that can lodge in lungs and cause health problems, the AP analysis found. It would also mean higher emissions of greenhouse gases, driving Earth\u2019s warming to deadlier levels.<\/p>\n Biden, a Democrat, had made fighting climate change a hallmark of his presidency<\/a>. Coal-fired power plants would have been forced to capture smokestack emissions<\/a> or shut down under a strict EPA rule issued in 2024. Those rules are now being upended.<\/p>\n In its proposal last year, the Trump EPA argued that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from fossil fuel-fired power plants \u201cdo not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution\u201d or climate change and therefore do not meet a threshold under the Clean Air Act for regulatory action. Greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas-fired plants \u201care a small and decreasing part of global emissions,\u2033 the EPA said.<\/p>\n Zeldin, a Republican and former New York congressman, said the Biden-era rules were designed to \u201csuffocate our economy in order to protect the environment,\u201d with the intent to regulate the coal industry \u201cout of existence\u201d and make it \u201cdisappear.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n