Trump EPA plans to roll back Biden's carbon, mercury emissions rules that would hit North Dakota coal plants

FARGO — President Donald Trump’s administration plans to repeal two Biden-era rules that North Dakota leaders say

would threaten the state’s coal industry.

But rescinding the rule could cost lives, an environmental group said.

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed rescinding the Clean Power Plan 2.0 and a Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, or MATS, rule, according to a release issued Wednesday, June 11. North Dakota’s congressional delegation and North Dakota

Gov. Kelly Armstrong

celebrated the development.

“Today’s action by the EPA is a win for U.S. energy dominance and supports continued access to the affordable and reliable baseload power provided by coal,” Sen.

John Hoeven,

R-N.D., said in a statement.

The EPA needs to finalize its decision to rescind the rules. It’s unclear when that may happen.

Under former President Joe Biden, the EPA approved the Clean Power Plan 2.0 in an effort to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels that generate electricity. Biden aimed to cut back greenhouse gas emissions and slow

climate change.

Biden’s EPA also called on coal-fired power plants to reduce the amount of toxic metal emissions released into the atmosphere. Mercury in the air can be dangerous for certain populations, including pregnant women and children, according to the Sierra Club, an environmental advocacy group.

“It’s completely reprehensible that Donald Trump would seek to roll back these lifesaving standards and do more harm to the American people and our planet just to earn some brownie points with the fossil fuel industry,” Sierra Club Climate Policy Director Patrick Drupp said in a statement. “This repeal means more climate disasters, more heart attacks, more asthma attacks, more birth defects, more premature deaths.”

Lignite coal-fired plants, like the five in North Dakota, initially had to reduce mercury emissions by 70% before July 8, 2027. Trump extended that deadline by two years after the coal industry said technology to reduce mercury emissions didn’t exist.

The MATS rule would cost coal plants in 12 states, including North Dakota, $1.2 billion over a decade starting in 2028, the EPA said in its Wednesday news release.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin criticized Biden’s Clean Power Plan, claiming its purpose was to “regulate coal, oil and gas out of existence.”

“Affordable, reliable electricity is key to the American dream and a natural byproduct of national energy dominance,” Zeldin said in a statement. “According to many, the primary purpose of these Biden-Harris administration regulations was to destroy industries that didn’t align with their narrow-minded climate change zealotry.

Repealing the Clean Power Plan would save the power sector $19 billion in regulatory costs, the EPA said.

U.S. Sen Kevin Cramer, Hoeven and Armstrong called the Biden-era rules an overreach. Armstrong said he met with Zeldin last month in Washington, D.C., to discuss the rules.

In a statement, Armstrong said the Clean Power Plan would “effectively shut down existing coal-fired power plants by requiring them to curb greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2032.” MATS threatened the power grid and would force coal plants to prematurely close, Armstrong said.

“It’s refreshing to finally have a regulatory agency that takes input from the people who produce what the world needs – and allows them to do it better than anyone else while protecting the environment,” the governor wrote.

The two rules targeted North Dakota’s energy industries, Cramer said.

“In North Dakota, we mine lignite coal and produce very reliable, long-term, steady electricity at a low cost,” he said in a statement. “I’ve always resented that somebody in this building, at EPA, thought they cared more about the air, land, water and economy than I did and my family did.”

The Biden rules would threaten the reliability of the country’s power grid and weaken national security, U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak, R-N.D., said in a statement.

“Under the Trump administration, the EPA is charting a new course — one that supports the responsible development of the natural resources we’ve been blessed with for the good of the American people,” she said in calling the potential repeal “a big win for North Dakota energy and American manufacturing.”