EPA did not remove Clean Air Act protections for soot, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, or mercury. It repealed the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards that would have required coal and new baseload gas plants to install carbon capture and storage. The agency says the technology is not ready to work as a nationwide compliance mandate, especially without pipeline and storage infrastructure in place. The rollback also follows the Supreme Court's West Virginia v EPA ruling, which limits how far the Clean Air Act can be stretched to force changes across the power grid. The article argues that the highest RCP8.5 climate scenario has been retired by researchers, but that point does not settle the policy question of how the power sector should cut emissions. For people following carbon markets and grid policy, the repeal removes one federal compliance driver and puts more weight on state rules, tax credits, and voluntary demand.
