The moves come as the Trump administration looks to promote fossil fuels and are expected to worsen global warming and air pollution.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to find that power plants’ greenhouse gas emissions “do not contribute significantly to dangerous air pollution” and therefore should not be regulated.
In effect, this proposal would overturn Biden-era rules that required existing coal and new gas plants to capture at least 90 percent of their carbon emissions and tighten restrictions on coal plants’ releases of mercury and other toxic metals.
The climate rule that the Trump administration is proposing to ax would have prevented an estimated 1.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions between the years 2038 and 2047 — emissions equivalent to taking more than 300 million gas-powered cars off the road for a year, according to Biden-era projections.
Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, I'm Rachel Frazin — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.
On the energy front, the changes removed a provision that would have reinstated leases for a proposed copper and nickel mine that had been renewed under the first Trump administration but revoked under former President Biden.
The Port of Los Angeles will need to clean up widespread water contamination in the city’s harbor by shoring up sewage treatment operations, according to a settlement approved by a federal judge.
Republican senators came out firing during Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s hearing on Wednesday before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on armed forces. Read more
Organizers with the “No Kings” movement are planning some 1,500 demonstrations across the country to protest the upcoming military parade Saturday. Read more
