EPA Sends Final Rule to Repeal Power Plant Greenhouse Gas Standards to White House for Review

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has moved a step closer to eliminating greenhouse gas emissions rules for fossil fuel-fired power plants. On May 14, 2026, the agency submitted a final rule to the Office of Management and Budget for review, a required step before the repeal can be published in the Federal Register and take effect.

The final rule, as described in the EPA's own submission to OMB, would "repeal all greenhouse gas emissions standards for fossil fuel-fired power plants." The OMB has up to 90 days to complete its review.

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The repeal targets regulations first proposed under the Obama administration and expanded significantly under the Biden administration. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin formally proposed the repeal on June 11, 2025, under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act, framing it as a move to ensure affordable and reliable energy supplies and reduce costs across transportation, heating, utilities, farming, and manufacturing.

According to EPA's estimates, the proposal would save the power sector $19 billion in regulatory costs over two decades beginning in 2026, or roughly $1.2 billion annually.

What the Repeal Covers

The proposed repeal targets the 2015 emissions standards for new fossil fuel-fired power plants issued during the Obama administration and the 2024 rule covering both new and existing fossil fuel-fired power plants issued under the Biden-Harris administration.

As an alternative to a full repeal, EPA also proposed eliminating the most burdensome requirements specifically: emission guidelines for existing power plants and carbon capture and sequestration/storage-based requirements for new combustion turbines and modified coal plants.

A key argument driving the repeal is that greenhouse gas emissions are global in nature, making it difficult to attribute specific public health harms to the U.S. power sector alone. The EPA argued that the Clean Air Act requires the agency to find that emissions from a specific source category "significantly contribute to dangerous air pollution" before regulating them, and the agency's current position is that power plant greenhouse gas emissions do not meet that threshold.

The Road to OMB

The path to this filing has been long. EPA first proposed the repeal in June 2025. It told a federal court in February 2026 that it planned to send the final rule to OMB by early spring. The final submission came through on May 14, 2026.

Running parallel to the rulemaking, EPA finalized the rescission of the 2009 Endangerment Finding on February 12, 2026, the foundational scientific and legal conclusion that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. That rescission effectively removed the legal basis for a broad range of greenhouse gas regulations across multiple sectors.

What Happens Next

The OMB review period can last up to 90 days. Once cleared, the final rule would be published in the Federal Register and become enforceable. The repeal would unwind years of federal rulemaking on power sector emissions that began with the original Clean Power Plan in 2015.

Ongoing litigation, State of West Virginia, et al. v. EPA, remains held in abeyance while the rulemaking proceeds, with status reports filed at 90-day intervals. Depending on the outcome of the OMB review and any subsequent legal challenges, the repeal could reshape the regulatory landscape for U.S. power generation for years ahead.

The Harvard Environmental and Energy Law Program continues to track developments in the case, noting that the rescission of the Endangerment Finding has broader implications for greenhouse gas regulation well beyond the power sector.