Trump EPA Analysis: Proposed Rollback of Power Plant Pollution Standards Will Cause Thousands of Deaths, Cost Billions of Dollars

(Washington, D.C. – June 17, 2025) The Trump EPA’s own analysis of its proposed rule to repeal all nationwide Clean Air Act limits on climate pollution from the nation’s fossil fuel-fired power plants finds that it will cause thousands of premature deaths and cost the nation tens of billions of dollars in health care costs.

That information is not included in the proposal itself, but can be found in the Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) that EPA was required to prepare with it.

“Vital information about the risks of rolling back the power plant pollution standards is buried in the Regulatory Impact Assessment, but even though it’s hidden, it’s clear – it would impose huge costs on the lives, health and well-being of Americans,” said Vickie Patton, General Counsel for Environmental Defense Fund. 

Fossil fuel-fired power plants  currently emit approximately a quarter of the nation’s climate pollution, far more than any other industrial source. The proposed rollback would allow them to discharge unlimited amounts of climate pollution into our air. It would also significantly increase other harmful pollutants from power plants – including nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, which contribute to unhealthy levels of soot and smog in communities across the country, and toxic air pollutants such as mercury.  

In table 4-1 of the RIA (on page 4-5) the Trump EPA finds that the repeal of the Carbon Pollution Standards would result in as many as 120 additional deaths from ground-level ozone (smog) and 1,100 additional deaths from fine particulate matter (soot) in 2035 alone. 

The negative numbers in the chart refer to “avoided premature mortalities that are estimated to no longer occur under this proposed action” – in other words, increases in air pollution-related deaths. 

In table 4-4 (on page 4-8), the RIA also shows that the total increase in health costs that would result from its proposed rule would be as much as $130 billion through 2047. That’s more than six times the estimated cost savings to industry.

In addition, the listed cost increases don’t take into account the costs of exacerbated climate change impacts associated with the proposed rule. The Trump EPA doesn’t even attempt to estimate those costs in the proposed rule – even though courts have held that it is arbitrary and unlawful for federal agencies to ignore them. However, when the Carbon Pollution Standards were issued last year, EPA estimated that they would yield a cumulative total savings of $270 billion in prevented climate-related damages.