Two recent actions by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) show the Trump administration’s commitment to the coal industry and to redefine the landscape of electricity generation over the next decade.
In the first of those two actions, the USEPA officially delayed stricter wastewater discharge standards for coal-fired power plants by five years. According to Stasia DeMarco, writing for Environmental Protection Online, “The delayed standards would have required coal plants to significantly reduce discharges of wastewater containing arsenic, mercury, bromide, and other hazardous pollutants. Under the new rule, power plants will have additional time before being required to install more advanced treatment technologies.”
The agency estimates that the delay could result in roughly 660 million additional pounds of pollutants entering U.S. waterways each year. EPA previously concluded that advanced wastewater treatment technologies are available and that the stricter standards would yield benefits (reduced cancer and cardiovascular disease risks, lower drinking water treatment costs) that outweigh costs.
As expected, environmental groups criticized the delay, arguing it favors industry interests at the expense of public health and environmental protection. Legal challenges are inevitable.
The second of those actions is the November decision to propose a deadline extension that would allow coal-fired electricity generators, including Baldwin, Kincaid, and Newton power stations in Illinois and Schahfer Generating Station in Wheatfield, Indiana, to remain open for an additional three years. Life extensions for EGUs such as these have been a priority of the coal industry for years. The Trump administration is finally taking action on those requests.
Just as with the coal EGLs, environmental and community groups are strongly opposed to any extension for coal-fired EGUs. Attorneys for Earthjustice and local environmental advocates argue the extension would reverse progress in reducing coal-related pollution and heighten risk to local water supplies. They note that these sites contain 13 unlined coal ash impoundments that allegedly leak arsenic, mercury, chromium and lead into groundwater.
USEPA officials are signaling that grid stability and energy reliability justify giving plants more time to operate under more reasonable standards. The USEPA has extended the public comment period before finalizing the rule.
In a related piece, Leigh Krietsch Boerner, writing for Chemical & Engineering News, looked forward to 2026 and USEPA’s plans for further deregulation. She notes that USEPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has been open about prioritizing repeal of the 2009 endangerment finding, the scientific and legal determination that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions “endanger public health or welfare.” The endangerment finding serves as the foundational predicate under Clean Air Act (CAA) § 202(a) for federal regulation of GHG emissions from mobile sources like vehicles and engines. Removing it would remove the statutory authority EPA has historically relied on to justify vehicle GHG standards as well as other climate regulations.
The USEPA also plans to delay and reconsider vehicle emission standards. The USEPA has announced that it will delay enforcement of two Biden-era vehicle emission rules (covering light- and medium-duty vehicles and the Clean Trucks Plan for heavy-duty engines).
The existing 2026 standards will remain for two additional years to provide time for USEPA to reassess them. In rule-making after rule-making, the Trump administration has made it clear that its USEPA is here to lessen the regulatory burden placed on American business.
