Trump’s EPA decimated climate rules for power plants. What now?

This analysis and news roundup come from the Canary Media Weekly newsletter. Sign up to get it every Friday.

The Biden and Obama administrations built a raft of climate regulations that was supposed to carry America beyond coal power. The Trump administration has officially sunk it.

This week, the EPA gutted the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards, a set of rules enacted under the Biden administration that would’ve required fossil fuel power plants to either significantly reduce or capture their emissions in the coming years, or shut down. The rollback completes the agency’s erasure of the most consequential climate policies of the past two administrations.

That sounds pretty bad for climate action. And, well, it is. But it’s worth noting that power-sector emissions have fallen substantially even without the enforcement of federal regulations.

A quick history lesson: In 2015, then-President Barack Obama introduced his Clean Power Plan, which aimed to reduce the electricity sector’s greenhouse gas emissions 32% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. Lawsuits and a Supreme Court decision kept the rules from actually going into effect, and then in 2017, the first Trump administration repealed them.

Nevertheless, the U.S. hit the plan’s decarbonization target a full decade early. The reason? The country has retired dirty old coal plants and replaced them with natural gas and renewables.

That’s happening in large part because it just makes economic sense to shift off coal power — even if President Donald Trump claims otherwise. Federal orders to keep aging coal plants open have racked up millions of dollars in additional costs to utility customers over the past year, while renewables remain America’s lowest-cost power option.

This is not to say the U.S. can rely on market logic alone to eliminate fossil fuels.

Yes, with or without power-plant emissions regulations, clean energy is going to continue to displace fossil fuels — especially coal — because the economics just make sense. The question, then, is not whether a transition will happen sans regulations but how fast it will move. That is no small consideration: Climate change is made worse and more dangerous with every additional ton of CO₂ that’s emitted into the atmosphere.

The transition would almost certainly happen faster with emissions regulations in place. For now, however, that’s off the table in America. 

More big energy stories

Unpacking Newsom’s clean-energy legacy

As California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s time in office comes to a close, Canary Media’s Jeff St. John is weighing whether the Democrat’s action on climate change should be celebrated or critiqued. Sure, under Newsom’s watch, California has built tons of new clean energy, added millions of EVs to the roads, and committed to ending sales of gas-powered cars by 2035. But analysts and experts say Newsom has fallen short on some of his environmental justice promises, and hasn’t gone far enough to take on utility and corporate powers in the name of lowering residential energy costs.

Newsom still has time to shore up his clean-energy legacy and tackle sky-high prices with a handful of bills sitting on his desk. As Jeff spells out in the first edition of his new weekly newsletter, California Wire, the state Legislature has passed measures that could cut into utility profits and boost virtual power plants. All they need now is Newsom’s signature.

Democrats chart a path on climate policy

House Democrats have a bold and broad new climate plan. Just don’t call it a climate plan.

This week, a group of Congress members rolled out the Thriving Economy Project — a title that, much like the Inflation Reduction Act, hides just how far the blueprint would go to tackle climate change. Restoring federal tax credits for residential clean energy and efficiency, tackling data center power demand, and unlocking lost-cost financing for renewables projects are all among its priorities.

These wide-ranging proposals have a long road ahead before they become legislation, project leader Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) tells Heatmap. First, the authors want to figure out which of their ideas could actually gather bipartisan support — something that’s easier said than done as long as President Trump remains in office.

Clean energy news to know this week

Congress tackles data centers: The U.S. House approves a bill to require state regulators to consider making data centers pay for the power and transmission upgrades made to serve them. (Associated Press)

Rethinking a renewables ban: Bannock County, Idaho, is rethinking its ban on clean energy development as leaders and residents suggest solar and wind, along with nuclear, power could bring much-needed economic benefits to farmers struggling amid years of drought. (Canary Media)

Gutting wildlife protections: The Trump administration moves to strip another core protection from the Endangered Species Act — a decision that could have massive implications for energy development. (New York Times)

RGGI revamp: As the Northeast’s cap-and-trade program approaches 20 years in action, industry leaders and other observers question if it’s still doing its job. (Canary Media)

Shaking the deep freeze: Power generators in the U.S. experienced fewer outages during extreme cold snaps this past winter than they did back in 2021 and 2022, finds an analysis from FERC and the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (Utility Dive)