The Environmental Protection Agency is poised to eliminate rules that limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas, part of a wide-ranging rollback of environmental regulations that Administrator Lee Zeldin has said would remove trillions of dollars in costs and "unleash" American energy.
The EPA also plans to weaken a regulation that requires power plants to reduce emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants that can harm brain development of young children and contribute to heart attacks and other health problems in adults.
The planned rollbacks, set to be announced Wednesday, are meant to fulfill President Donald Trump's repeated pledge to "unleash American energy" and make it more affordable for Americans to power their homes and operate businesses.
If approved and made final, the plans would reverse efforts by President Joe Biden's administration to address climate change and improve conditions in areas heavily burdened by industrial pollution, mostly in low-income and majority Black or Hispanic communities.
The power plant rules are among about 30 environmental regulations that Zeldin targeted in March when he announced what he called the "most consequential day of deregulation in American history." He said the actions would put a "dagger through the heart of climate-change religion" and introduce a "Golden Age" for the American economy.