Trump EPA Announces Reconsideration of Biden-Harris Rule, “Clean Power Plan 2.0”, That Prioritized Shutting Down Power Plants While Raising Costs on American Families
WASHINGTON – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the agency will reconsider the Biden-Harris Administration’s regulations on power plants, commonly known as “Clean Power Plan 2.0.” The first Clean Power Plan was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2022. Many have voiced concerns that the last administration’s replacement for that rule is similarly overreaching and an attempt to shut down affordable and reliable electricity generation in the United States, raising prices for American families, and increasing the country’s reliance on foreign forms of energy.
“President Trump promised to kill the Clean Power Plan in his first term, and we continue to build on that progress now. 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,” said EPA Administrator Zeldin.
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 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.
This was announced in conjunction with a number of historic actions to advance President Trump’s Day One executive orders and Power the Great American Comeback. Combined, these announcements represent the greatest and most consequential day of deregulation in the history of the United States. 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.