EPA says repealing power plant emissions rules will save billions – but its estimate leaves out health and climate costs

The Trump administration is repealing federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas plants, along with requirements for carbon capture equipment, arguing the Clean Air Act's Section 111 doesn't authorize climate regulation of power plants in the first place. The EPA projects $310 billion in economy-wide savings from 2026 to 2047 and electricity prices 5.8% lower by 2035, roughly $8 a month off a typical bill.

That estimate counts only avoided compliance costs; it does not include the health costs of added air pollution or climate damage, according to the economist writing this analysis. The Energy Information Administration already projected coal retirements and new gas construction would continue even without the rules.

The Consumers Energy coal plant in Michigan illustrates the trade-offs: ordered by the Department of Energy to keep running past its planned 2025 retirement, it cost $259 million more to operate than it earned in the market over roughly a year, a bill the company now wants spread across Midwest ratepayers, while court challenges to the order continue.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.