The Biden administration finalized highly anticipated regulations on Thursday, cracking down on existing and future fossil fuel-fired power plants as part of its sweeping climate agenda.

In a joint announcement, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and White House officials said the rules would target all coal-fired power generation and future natural gas power plants. The regulations, according to the officials, will help the nation meet President Biden’s goals of decarbonizing the nation’s power grid and transitioning to green energy sources like wind and solar.

“Today, EPA is proud to make good on the Biden-Harris administration’s vision to tackle climate change and to protect all communities from pollution in our air, water, and in our neighborhoods,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. 

“By developing these standards in a clear, transparent, inclusive manner, EPA is cutting pollution while ensuring that power companies can make smart investments and continue to deliver reliable electricity for all Americans.”

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Under the regulations, all coal-fired plants that are slated to remain operational in the long-term and all new baseload gas-fired plants will be required to control 90% of their carbon emissions. According to the Energy Information Administration, at least 20 natural gas-fired power plants are expected to come online in 2024 and 2025, with a total capacity of 7.7 gigawatts, enough to power millions of homes.

In addition, EPA’s rulemaking tightens emissions standards for coal-fired plants related to toxic metal and wastewater discharge.

“President Biden’s leadership has not only sparked an unprecedented expansion in clean electricity generation, his leadership has also launched an American manufacturing renaissance,” senior White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi said Thursday in a statement.

“This is how we win the future, by harnessing new technologies to grow our economy, deliver environmental justice, and save the planet for future generations.”

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The American Lung Association and environmental groups like BlueGreen Alliance quickly applauded the regulations on Thursday.

A plume of exhaust extends from the Mitchell Power Station, a coal-fired power plant built along the Monongahela River in New Eagle, Pennsylvania. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

EPA initially unveiled the regulations in a May 2023 proposal, which was applauded by environmental groups and Democrats, but received criticism from business groups, energy associations, manufacturers, grid operators and Republicans, including several state attorneys general who threatened legal action. 

That proposal included rules for existing gas plants, but those rules were stripped from the actions finalized Thursday. EPA said in late February it would finalize environmental regulations for existing gas generation in several months.

According to federal data, natural gas and coal generate 43% and 16% of the nation’s power, respectively. Alternatively, wind and solar generate 10% and 4% of the nation’s power.

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Since the administration proposed the regulations last year, critics have warned that cracking down on coal power and gas plants — the single largest source of electricity in the U.S., the federal data showed — will have severe consequences for Americans in the form of blackouts and higher energy prices. 

President Biden, left, and EPA Administrator Michael Regan. (Getty Images)

“We’re concerned it’s going to impact the reliability of our grid,” National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson told Fox News Digital. “This is a grid that is already under a lot of stress because electric demand is growing at a rapid rate in this country, which is actually, in many ways, good news in terms of economic growth.”

“But supply is not keeping up,” he added. “And this rule is going to further cause deterioration in the quality of our supply to meet that demand.”

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In August, meanwhile, four nonpartisan grid operators that collectively provide power to 154 million Americans warned EPA’s regulations as proposed would cause grid reliability to “dwindle to concerning levels.” The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which oversees the entire U.S. grid, forecasted months later that there will be future power supply crunches as a result of premature power plant retirements.

The regulations are also the subject of an ongoing investigation being conducted by the House Oversight Committee. And, separately, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, vowed Thursday to soon introduce a resolution overturning the regulations.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on May 26, 2021. (Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“With the latest iteration of the illegal Clean Power Plan 2.0 announced today, President Biden has inexplicably doubled down on his plans to shut down the backbone of America’s electric grid through unachievable regulatory mandates,” Capito said in a statement.

“Electricity demand is set to skyrocket thanks in part to the EPA’s own electric vehicles mandate, and unfortunately, Americans are already paying higher utility bills under President Biden,” she continued. “Despite all this, the administration has chosen to press ahead with its unrealistic climate agenda that threatens access to affordable, reliable energy for households and employers across the country.”

Democrats and environmentalists have long targeted the power sector over its high emissions as part of their efforts to stave off cataclysmic climate change. Shortly after he took office, Biden pledged to enable the nation to achieve an up to 52% total emission reduction by 2030 and to create a carbon-free power sector by 2035.

The Supreme Court on Thursday will hear former President Trump’s claim that he is entirely immune from prosecution for all of his “official acts” during his time in the White House, including his effort to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.

Trump’s claim of absolute immunity has been derided by legal experts and rejected by a federal trial judge and the U.S. appeals court in Washington.

But the former president and his lawyers have been winning delays with their losing arguments.

Special counsel Jack Smith indicted Trump for conspiring to subvert the results of the 2020 election, and the judge originally scheduled the trial for March.

The Supreme Court’s intervention upset that timetable and raised doubts a jury will consider the charges before this November’s election.

Why did the Supreme Court intervene?

One possibility is that the justices, at least several of them, believe a former president is shielded from later prosecution for his truly “official acts” as the nation’s chief executive, even if he can be prosecuted for a private scheme to overturn his election defeat.

In the lower courts, the immunity question was debated as an all-or-nothing matter. Trump’s team asserted a total and “categorical” immunity for their client, which the judges rejected.

When the high court agreed in February to hear the Trump immunity case, they rewrote the question to be decided.

It was no longer about the ex-president’s categorical or total immunity. Instead, they said they would decide: “Whether, and if so to what extent, does a former president enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office.”

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Brett M. Kavanaugh and Elena Kagan served as White House lawyers, and they are likely to be sensitive to opening the door to former presidents being prosecuted by the partisans who took office after them.

Harvard Law professor Jack Goldsmith has argued that the central issue in the case is its impact on future presidents.

A U.S. Secret Service agent with Vice President Kamala Harris’ detail was removed from their assignment after engaging in a physical fight with other agents while on duty Monday, Fox News Digital has learned. 

The fight was first reported by The New York Post and confirmed to Fox News Digital by a source.

The incident happened at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland while Harris was at the Naval Observatory, but didn’t delay her departure from the base, the Secret Service told Fox News Digital.  

Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the U.S. Secret Service, called the incident a “medical matter,” adding that the agency wouldn’t be commenting further. 

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“At approximately 9 a.m. April 22, a U.S. Secret Service special agent supporting the Vice President’s departure from Joint Base Andrews began displaying behavior their colleagues found distressing,” Guglielmi said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.

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FILE- The chief of communications for the U.S. Secret Service called the incident a “medical matter” after an agent was removed from their assignment following a fight. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

He added, “The agent was removed from their assignment while medical personnel were summoned. The Vice President was at the Naval Observatory when this incident occurred and there was no impact on her departure from Joint Base Andrews.

“The U.S. Secret Service takes the safety and health of our employees very seriously. As this was a medical matter, we will not disclose any further details.” 

The agent, who had been acting “erratically,” began punching the special agent in charge after getting on top of him, Real Clear Politics reported. 

Harris wasn’t delayed by the incident, the Secret Service said.  (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

The agent, who was handcuffed after the incident and treated by medical staff, had previously been a subject of concern by staff, the outlet reported.