The US Environmental Protection Agency is repealing the carbon dioxide limits that required coal and gas power plants to cut emissions by up to 90 percent or shut down by 2039. EPA head Lee Zeldin called it the largest power sector deregulation in agency history. The agency now argues climate change is too uncertain to justify those rules and says removing them could save more than $310 billion in compliance costs. Energy Secretary Chris Wright backed the move on reliability grounds, saying coal and gas still fill gaps when wind and solar output drops. The EPA also proposed scrapping other greenhouse gas rules for the energy sector, which it says would save another $370 billion. A public comment period comes next, and the agency projects coal use for power could rise more than tenfold.
