During the G20 energy summit in Houston, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it would scrap carbon emission limits on coal and gas-fired power plants. The EPA, under Administrator Lee Zeldin, rolled back regulations introduced by former President Biden’s administration and proposed further restrictions on future greenhouse gas regulations for the power sector, which contributes about 25% of national emissions. Environmental groups criticized these actions as detrimental to climate change policies, while the EPA claimed the changes would save $310 billion from repealed standards and an additional $370 million with the proposed rule, figures doubted by critics.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-15,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday scrapped limits on carbon emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants, the latest in a string of actions dismantling regulations aimed at curbing climate change.
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administration → scrap → change
The changes, announced during a G20 energy ministers’ meeting in Houston, roll back measures introduced under former president Joe Biden — and go further, proposing to stop future greenhouse gas regulations over the power sector, which accounts for roughly a quarter of the nation’s planet-warming emissions.
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which → announce → emissions
“Today, we are cutting the red tape to deliver the largest power sector deregulatory action ever,” Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said at a press conference.
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Zeldin → cut → conference
“We are not going to bend the law to climate alarmism and climate radicalism at all at the Trump EPA,” he added.
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he → go → EPA
He also accused journalists of trying to “scare” the public, using an expletive for emphasis.
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He → accuse → emphasis
Environmental groups vowed to sue, describing it as a dark day for policies that protect people from the ravages of climate change, and a gift to the fossil fuel industry.
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that → vow → industry
August was the hottest month ever recorded around the world, and the United States just experienced its hottest recorded summer.
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States → record → summer
The main driver of global heating comes from burning fossil fuels, and this year the human-caused warming is stacking on top of a historically intense El Nino weather pattern.
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warming → come → pattern
“They’re propping up fossil fuel industry profits and completely sidelining people’s health and well-being,” Rachel Cleetus of the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists, told AFP.
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Cleetus → prop → AFP
“The EPA has deserted its mission entirely, and they’re doing it in a way that’s cruel.
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that → desert → way
They’re gleefully taking credit for it.”
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They → take → it
The administration has repealed 2024 Biden-era standards that were set under the Clean Air Act to control greenhouse gas pollution from existing coal plants and new gas plants.
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that → repeal → plants
These required a reduction of up to 90 per cent of carbon dioxide pollution over time, and would have required smokestack carbon capture technology in order to be achieved.
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These → require → technology
But in its now-finalized rule, the EPA held these standards were impossible to meet and the deadlines too tight.
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deadlines → finalize → rule
The second part of the package is a proposed rule that makes a broader statutory argument that the EPA does not have the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector — and that even if it did have the authority, doing so would be futile, because it would not meaningfully address global climate change.
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it → propose → change
It builds on the U.S. government’s decision in February to overturn the 2009 Endangerment Finding, the scientific determination that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare.
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gases → build → health
The agency said that the repeal would save US$310 billion, while the proposed rule would save a further US$370 million — figures that critics expressed skepticism towards and vowed to examine.
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critics → say → skepticism
Meredith Hankins, a legal expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told AFP that the actions had contradictory legal justifications.
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actions → tell → justifications
They noted that the technical repeal, at least in the draft phase, stated that the EPA had the authority to regulate greenhouse emissions but found the Biden administration went about it the wrong way.
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administration → note → it
“We’ll have to look at the final text of the rule,” Hankins said.
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Hankins → have → rule
“But I think on its face you can see the contradictions.
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you → think → contradictions
So I’m certainly looking forward to seeing them in court.”
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I → look → court
Trump often calls human-induced climate change “a hoax,” and his policy rollbacks have included withdrawing the United States once more from the Paris climate accord and eliminating greenhouse gas standards for vehicle tailpipe emissions.
“Our government is ignoring the reality all around us that people are feeling every day of the impacts of climate change, and just putting their heads in the sand and saying, ‘We don’t care, it’s not our problem, next generation, figure it out yourselves,'” said Hankins.
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Hankins → call → it
The Aporia
