September 14, 2026
CHICAGO – The Environmental Protection Agency announced today a final rule gutting technical requirements of its 2024 power plant carbon standards, and a proposal to disclaim its authority to regulate greenhouse gases from power plants at all. If that proposal is adopted, public health across the country will be seriously and lastingly harmed, as the nation loses its only federal check on climate pollution from its second largest source of the emissions driving climate change.
The authority-disclaiming proposal leans on the same legal theory EPA is already defending in federal court: that greenhouse gases do not endanger public health, and that the agency therefore has no authority to regulate them under the Clean Air Act. The Environmental Law & Policy Center and a coalition of public health and environmental groups are challenging that theory directly in APHA v. EPA (No. 26-1037, D.C. Circuit), which contests EPA’s rescission of the 2009 greenhouse gas Endangerment Finding for motor vehicle air pollution. Today’s proposal previews the same fight over air pollution from power plants.
The 2024 rule required existing coal plants to capture most of their carbon emissions by 2039 or retire. It also set the first federal limits on climate pollution from new gas plants. Federal estimates found the original rule would prevent up to 1,200 premature deaths, 870 hospital and emergency room visits, and 360,000 asthma attacks a year by 2035. A complete rollback would almost completely eliminate those health benefits.
Statement by Brian Lynk, Senior Attorney, Environmental Law & Policy Center
“This is a potential landmark assault on public health in America. The administration is proposing to deregulate pollution from coal and gas plants at the same time it is encouraging new gas plants to open around the country to support the data center buildout. It’s a double-barreled threat on our air and our health.”
ELPC intends to submit comments opposing EPA’s new proposal and will consider legal action in response to the repeal announced today.