The Environmental Protection Agency announced the ‘most consequential day of deregulation’ in U.S. history Wednesday, as it put the Biden administration’s Clean Power Plan 2.0 — which cracked down on fossil fuel power plants — on the chopping block.
‘President Trump promised to kill the Clean Power Plan in his first term, and we continue to build on that progress now,’ EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in an announcement that was first obtained by Fox News Digital. ‘In reconsidering the Biden-Harris rule that ran afoul of Supreme Court case law, we are seeking to ensure that the agency follows the rule of law while providing all Americans with access to reliable and affordable energy.’
The Biden administration finalized its Clean Power Plan 2.0 in April 2024, cracking down on existing and future fossil fuel-fired power plants as part of the previous administration’s sweeping climate agenda. The plan required existing coal-fired power plants and new baseload natural gas-fired power plants to install carbon capture technology by 2032 in an effort to effectively eliminate carbon emissions by 2050.
The 2.0 plan was touted in 2024 as one of the Biden administration’s most ‘aggressive’ climate policies, while conservative lawmakers slammed it as one that could have a ‘catastrophic’ impact on the nation’s electric grid.
The Clean Power 2.0 plan followed the 2015 Clean Power Plan under the Obama administration, which worked to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants and set national standards for carbon emissions. The Supreme Court in 2022, however, struck down the Clean Power Plan in the case West Virginia v. EPA, curbing the agency’s ability to broadly regulate carbon emissions.
‘The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the 2015 Clean Power Plan in West Virginia v. EPA, holding that the major questions doctrine barred EPA from misusing the Clean Air Act to manipulate Americans’ energy choices and shift the balance of the nation’s electrical fuel mix,’ the EPA noted in its press release. ‘The Biden Administration issued its own rule in 2024 which many critics say is just another attempt to achieve the unlawful fuel-shifting goals of the Clean Power Plan.’
The EPA continued in its press release that the Trump administration’s executive orders and actions to ‘Power the Great American Comeback,’ combined with the announcement putting the Biden administration’s ‘Woke Green Agenda’ under reconsideration, marks the ‘most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history.’
‘These announcements represent the greatest and most consequential day of deregulation in the history of the United States,’ the press release stated. ‘While accomplishing EPA’s core mission of protecting the environment, the agency is committed to fulfilling President Trump’s promise to unleash American energy, lower costs for Americans, revitalize the American auto industry, restore the rule of law, and give power back to states to make their own decisions.’
Zeldin has been on a warpath against corruption and mismanagement within the EPA in recent weeks, including making waves Tuesday evening when he announced the agency was terminating $20 billion in grants awarded by the Biden administration for climate and clean-energy projects.
Eight nonprofits had been awarded the funds, according to Zeldin, including the Coalition for Green Capital, Climate United Fund, Power Forward Communities, Opportunity Finance Network, Inclusiv and the Justice Climate Fund. These organizations have partnered with various groups, including Rewiring America, Habitat for Humanity and the Community Preservation Corporation.
‘This termination is based on substantial concerns regarding program integrity, objections to the award process, programmatic fraud, waste and abuse and misalignment with the agency’s priorities, which collectively undermine the fundamental goals and statutory objectives of the awards,’ Zeldin said in a video announcement Tuesday.
‘The EPA will once again be an exceptional steward of your tax dollars. I will have it no other way,’ Zeldin said.
Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz and Landon Mion contributed to this report.