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Most coal- and natural gas-fired power plants in North Carolina no longer will face federal limits on their greenhouse gas emissions, drawing pushback from state leaders and environmental groups.
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The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Monday the repeal of a 2024 rule put in place by the Biden administration, which limited greenhouse gas emissions from most existing fossil fuel-fired power plants.
The limits were seen as a key way to curb the United States’ contributions to climate change. Currently, the nation’s power plants emit over 1.5 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases each year. Scientists agree that these gases trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, causing rising global temperatures and more frequent extreme weather events.
Under President Donald Trump, the EPA has attempted to shift away from renewable energy and toward fossil fuels, arguing that the greenhouse gas emissions that come from fossil fuel power plants do not pose a significant public health risk. In a Monday news release, the agency estimated that the rule repeal would save consumers about $310 billion, though it provided no details about where those savings would come from.
“For over 15 years, the Obama and Biden administrations implemented a war on coal to destroy reliable and affordable energy. The Trump Administration has come in to protect American energy and to make sure you can afford to keep the lights on,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a Monday news release.
Munashe Magarira, a senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, voiced his criticism of a potential repeal before it was officially announced.
“Given what we’re seeing with weather and climate events across the globe, but also very close to home … it’s a very short-sighted decision,” Magarira said. “It’s very disheartening to see that there’s just a very different assessment of the emergency we face right now.”
It’s unclear whether this repeal would affect each state’s ability to limit greenhouse gas emissions. In North Carolina, the state’s Department of Environmental Quality, not the EPA, reviews greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
“Once details are released, DEQ’s Division of Air Quality would need to review the proposal to understand how it might impact North Carolina,” DEQ spokesperson Shawn Taylor said in an email before the EPA’s announcement.
Most of North Carolina’s power plants are owned by Duke Energy, the state’s largest utility company. Duke faces a state-imposed goal to become carbon-neutral by 2050, but the state legislature recently eliminated an interim goal for Duke to cut its carbon emissions by 70% by 2030.
Duke Energy CEO Harry Sideris applauded the rule repeal on Thursday, calling it “an important step to implementing a more practical and balanced energy policy.”
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“I thank President Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for advancing a final rule that reflects the realities facing America’s electric sector. Today’s announcement will allow the electric system to operate more efficiently and, as a result, prevent Duke Energy customers from incurring approximately $10 billion in costs,” Sideris said in a statement.
Electric utilities across the U.S., including Duke Energy, have spent billions in recent years on retiring fossil fuel-fired power plants and building new renewable power plants in order to prevent health and climate impacts from carbon emissions. Once built out, clean energy like wind and solar is cheaper to operate in most cases, according to research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the International Renewable Energy Agency.
About one-third of the electricity Duke generates comes from nuclear power, and another third comes from natural gas; coal power makes up just over 20% of its electricity mix, and solar makes up around 5%. The utility also has several nuclear and natural gas projects that are currently under review in North Carolina.
The rule changes will repeal all greenhouse gas limits for existing fossil fuel power plants that use steam combustion, as well as limits for coal plants and combustion turbines that use carbon capture and storage. The EPA also proposed eliminating all other remaining greenhouse gas emission limits.
The announcement came as Zeldin and other top Trump officials attended the Group of 20 conference in Houston, which is focused on “energy abundance.” The series of economic and policy meetings have included leaders from 19 countries and the African and European Unions. A G20 meeting in Chapel Hill earlier this month drew heated protests outside the University of North Carolina campus.
The EPA first proposed to repeal the greenhouse gas limits in June 2025, and proposed to do so by issuing a ruling that fossil fuel-fired power plants “do not contribute significantly to dangerous air pollution.”
In response, leaders from 21 states, four cities and the District of Columbia issued comments calling the rule changes “unlawful, arbitrary and capricious.”
Among them was N.C. Attorney General Jeff Jackson, who “urged the EPA not to take this action because it would harm our state and public health and because it would be unlawful,” said Bailey Aldridge, a spokesperson for Jackson, in an email.
“We’re continuing to monitor this issue,” Aldridge said.
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This story was originally published September 14, 2026 at 6:22 PM.