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The US Environmental Protection Agency has begun to dismantle rules restricting pollution from power plants as Donald Trump takes aim at green regulations imposed by his predecessor Joe Biden.
The EPA on Wednesday proposed repealing two Biden-era regulations that limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants from fossil fuel-fired power plants as part of Trump’s US “energy dominance” agenda.
Lee Zeldin, EPA administrator, criticised the existing rules for “regulating coal, oil and gas out of existence” and said that by rolling them back the US was “reclaiming sanity and sound policy”.
He said: “Today, we are taking an important step towards putting America back on track. [The] EPA is helping pave the way for American energy dominance because energy development underpins economic development.”
The actions are the most significant efforts to unpick green regulations since Trump’s return to office and mirror a push during the president’s first term to temper the agency’s role in policing industrial emissions.
Biden made climate change a central pillar of his presidency and used EPA rules to clamp down on emissions, to the frustration of industry groups that argued excessive red tape was driving up costs.
Trump signalled an immediate shift on his return to office in January, withdrawing the US from the Paris climate accords for a second time and ordering the removal of terms such as “climate change” and “environmental justice” from the EPA lexicon.
Under Wednesday’s proposals the agency would repeal a rule limiting the volume of carbon dioxide coal and gas-fired plants can emit into the atmosphere. The agency would also loosen standards on emissions of mercury and other toxic chemicals from oil and coal-fired plants, reverting back to 2012 limits. The EPA said the two actions would save the industry more than $20bn in regulatory costs over a decade.
Julie McNamara, associate director of climate and energy policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, condemned the EPA’s “astoundingly shameful proposals” and called for legal action to be taken against them.
“It’s galling to watch the US government so thoroughly debase itself as it sacrifices the public good to boost the bottom line of fossil fuel executives,” she said. “These actions can, should and will be challenged in court.”
Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute, the leading oil and gas lobby group in Washington, welcomed a move it said would help ensure “affordable, reliable electricity amid growing demand”.
“We applaud EPA administrator Zeldin for taking decisive action to ensure the American people have access to affordable and reliable energy,” said Dustin Meyer, API’s senior vice-president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs. “We will continue working with the administration on policies that keep the lights on for the American people.”
