Trump ready to ease rules on coal-fired power plants

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is set to roll back the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s efforts to slow global warming, the Clean Power Plan that restricts greenhouse gas emissions from coalfired power plants.

A plan to be announced in coming days would give states broad authority to determine how to restrict carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

The plan by the Environmental Protection Agency also would let states relax pollution rules for power plants that need upgrades, according to a summary of the plan and several sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Combined with a planned rollback of car-mileage standards, the plan represents a significant retreat from Obama-era efforts to fight climate change and would reverse an Obama-era push to shift away from coal and toward less-polluting energy sources such as natural gas, wind and solar power.

Trump also has directed Energy Secretary Rick Perry to take steps to bolster struggling coal-fired and nuclear power plants to keep them open, warning that impending retirements of “fuel-secure” power plants that rely on coal and nuclear power are harming the nation’s power grid and reducing its resilience.

Neither the White House nor the EPA had immediate comment on the plan.

A three-page summary being circulated at the White House focuses on boosting efficiency at coal-fired power plants and allowing states to reduce “wasteful compliance costs” while focusing on improved environmental outcomes. Critics say focusing on improved efficiency would allow utilities to run older, dirtier power plants more often.

But the summary says: “Carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector will continue to fall under this rule, but this will happen legally and with proper respect for the states.” The summary asserts that the Obama-era plan exceeds the EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act.

The Supreme Court put Obama’s plan on hold in 2016 after a legal challenge by industry and coalfriendly states, an order that remains in effect.

Trump is expected to promote the new plan at an appearance in West Virginia on Tuesday.

“This is really a plan to prop up coal plants — or try to,” said David Doniger, a climate expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.