US guts climate rules for coal and gas power plants

The Trump administration on Monday gutted regulations that limited planet-warming emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants, Report informs via The Hill.

The move allows a sector that makes up a large share of the US's climate change contributions to release greenhouse gases unchecked by the government. It's expected to be a win for the fossil fuel industry, while allowing the release of significantly more planet-heating pollution.

When it proposed to kill the regulations entirely last year, the Trump administration estimated that in the year 2035 alone, this would result in the release of 123 million more metric tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to putting an additional 28.7 million gas-powered cars on the road.

The moves come as high electricity demand and increasing power prices continue to be a major political issue. Last year's analysis found that in 2035, axing power plant climate rules could reduce electricity prices by an average of 1.4 percent.

In a press release, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that it expects its final rule to save $310 billion.

The EPA's action repeals most of a Biden-era rule that would have required existing coal plants and new gas plants to prevent 90 percent of their carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere.

The US power sector is a major driver of planet-warming emissions, responsible for a quarter of total US emissions.

A report from New York University School of Law's Institute for Policy Integrity found that if the US power sector were a country, it would be the world's sixth-largest emitter, contributing more to climate change than the entirety of nations such as Canada, Japan, Brazil and Mexico.

The document also said that the sector's 2022 emissions alone will contribute to future climate change impacts that are expected to cause about 5,300 additional premature deaths in the US due to heat and wildfire smoke.