Two years ago, we celebrated a huge victory for public health when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced stronger rules to clean up power plant pollution. Unfortunately, since then the regulatory landscape has changed dramatically, with drastic consequences for air quality and lung health.
In June 2025, EPA proposed rules to repeal greenhouse gas emission standards and weaken other air pollution limits for fossil fuel-fired power plants. These actions would reverse key protections that reduce carbon dioxide, mercury and other emissions from coal- and gas-powered electricity generation. Since then, the rollback of tighter mercury pollution standards has been finalized, and we’re awaiting the greenhouse gas rollback next.
What’s Being Repealed Regarding Power Plant Pollution?
- Carbon Pollution Standards: Rules set under the prior administration required major reductions in carbon emissions from new and existing fossil fuel-fired power plants, including new gas plants and current coal plants. These standards aim to encourage the use of cleaner technologies to help the nation meet climate goals, which would have direct benefits for health at the same time. EPA has proposed a reversal and it is currently under review for final approval.
- Updated Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS): Stronger limits on mercury and other hazardous air pollutants from power plants were also set under the previous administration. These tighter limits reduced toxic exposures that cause neurological harm and other serious health consequences. EPA has now rolled back the 2024 standards, which means that the country now reverts to older, weaker standards.
One of EPA’s repeal proposals reasons includes an assertion that power plant greenhouse gases “do not contribute significantly to dangerous air pollution” under the Clean Air Act, a position that sharply contradicts decades of climate science and public health evidence.
Health and Environmental Concerns
Power plants remain one of the nation’s largest sources of both climate-warming greenhouse gases and harmful air pollutants. Fossil fuel-fired plants emit nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅), mercury and other toxins that have been linked to asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer, neurological harm in children, and even premature death. Cutting back pollution standards weakens protections that have proven health benefits.
Even worse, EPA has stopped counting the health effects of its actions altogether. Health and medical organizations, including the American Lung Association, have raised strong concerns about rolling back these protections, warning that doing so will result in increased pollution-based lung disease and avoidable health problems, especially for children, older adults and people with pre-existing lung disease.
What This Means for Lung Health
The rollback of power plant emission rules represents a significant shift away from a decade of progress in cleaning up sources of dangerous pollution. Without strong federal standards:
- Communities near power plants may see higher levels of hazardous air pollution that exacerbate asthma and other respiratory diseases.1
- Climate-linked health impacts, including worsened air quality due to wildfires and extreme heat, could accelerate.2
- Long-term reductions in mercury and other neurotoxins may stall, increasing risk, especially for children and developing fetuses.3
Blog last updated: February 25, 2026
