The Trump administration finalized the repeal of the 2024 EPA power plant carbon rules on Sept. 14, claiming the move saves the industry $310 billion and that greenhouse gas rules produced little benefit. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin also proposed cutting all remaining greenhouse gas standards, with another $370 billion in projected savings. The Deseret News report covers how Utah politicians split on the decision, from support over reliability concerns to warnings about public health. Utah's two largest coal plants, Hunter and Huntington, were already pushed from 2036 and 2042 retirement dates to at least 2045 by Rocky Mountain Power. Now the repeal could extend their life further and may make the shuttered Delta coal plant more attractive to a buyer. The Delta plant had been slated for replacement by a gas plant designed to run on hydrogen later. The final outcome depends on whether the proposed deeper cuts to EPA greenhouse gas standards hold up in court and whether state regulators adjust their planning assumptions.
