Trump Moves to Strip EPA of Authority to Limit Power Plant Carbon Pollution

The Trump administration is proposing to repeal the Endangerment Finding for power plants, a 2009 scientific determination that greenhouse gases threaten public health. That finding has been the legal basis for the EPA's authority to limit carbon pollution from coal and gas power plants under the Clean Air Act. Combined with the earlier repeal of the Endangerment Finding for vehicles in February, this move would leave the EPA without authority to regulate carbon emissions from the two biggest sources of that pollution in the country.

The administration has already given more than $700 million in federal money to the coal industry. This comes even though renewable energy is now cheaper to build than new coal or gas plants, even without subsidies. In May, solar generated more electricity than coal nationwide, and Utah got more power from solar than from any other source that same month.

For homeowners, this doesn't change any rebate program or upgrade incentive directly, but it signals a broader shift away from federal climate regulation. It could shape the mix of power on your local grid over time, since it removes a federal check on how much carbon coal and gas plants can emit. The Sierra Club has said it will challenge the proposal in court and in Congress, so this is not final. Whether and how it affects your electricity bill or the source of your power will depend on decisions made state by state and by individual utilities going forward.