American Sustainable Business Network Condemns Repeal of EPA Pollution Reduction Rules

American Sustainable Business Network Condemns Repeal of EPA Pollution Reduction Rules

For Immediate Release:
June 11, 2025

The proposed repeal of the 2024 power plant air pollution reduction standards by the Administration, as announced today by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, evokes profound disappointment and grave concerns for our nation’s environmental health, public health, and the future of American energy reliability. This repeal ignores the economic costs of climate risk, and threatens businesses’ ability to participate in a transparent and reliable energy sector.

Most alarmingly, reports suggest the repeal may be based on the scientifically unsound claim that power plant greenhouse gases “do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution,” a direct contradiction of established climate science and the EPA’s own Endangerment Finding. This is deeply troubling, not only as the basis for repealing this rule, but also for the EPA’s future mandate to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.

“This repeal is a deficiency of the government’s responsibility to protect its citizens and the environment. It is a failure in hearing the business community’s calls to support reliable, affordable, clean energy,” says Michael Green, ASBN’s Senior Advisor on Climate and Energy. “We condemn this damaging reversal.”

The private sector shows a growing and strong preference for clean energy, with a record $2.1 trillion global investment in low-carbon energy transition in 2024. In the U.S., investments in clean energy have tripled from 2018 to 2023, with annual clean investment totals nearing $248 billion. This demonstrates that the EPA and the Administration are clearly acting against the interests of businesses and investors by undermining standards that support this transition.

The two standards set to be repealed include one that sets limits on carbon emissions from existing fossil-fuel powered plants, and the other regulates harmful gases, including mercury. This move deliberately dismantles vital safeguards designed to protect American communities and address the escalating climate crisis, striking at our collective responsibility to ensure a healthy environment. This assault on pollution controls for the power sector, which is the nation’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, signifies a comprehensive effort to weaken environmental oversight and appears to willfully ignore overwhelming scientific consensus that air pollution is harmful to communities, public health, and the environment.

ASBN’s community of business leaders has long supported cutting pollution from existing coal and gas power plants and advocating for an equitable and just transition to a clean energy future, as evident by the 170 business leaders signing on in support of carbon pollution standards rules.

The carbon pollution standards rules promised substantial reductions in emissions, aiming to cut 1.38 billion metric tons of CO2 by 2047 and deliver extensive public health improvements. Projections for 2035 alone included preventing approximately 1,200 premature deaths, 870 hospital visits, and 360,000 asthma attacks. These regulations, covering carbon dioxide, hazardous air pollutants such as mercury, and water pollutants, were projected to yield up to $370 billion in cumulative health and climate benefits through 2047, far outweighing compliance costs. The repeal signifies a forfeiture of these massive, quantifiable public health and economic co-benefits.

The consequences of this repeal will be dire, leading to increased greenhouse gas emissions, accelerating climate change, and intensifying extreme weather events. Public health will suffer from greater exposure to pollutants affecting communities across the nation, while also disproportionately affecting low-wealth and minority communities. This reversal also undermines U.S. credibility in global climate efforts. It ignores the substantial long-term economic costs of inaction, which include disaster recovery, increased healthcare expenditures, and lost productivity, effectively transferring costs from polluters to the public.

Justifications for this repeal, such as claims of economic burden on power companies, threats to grid reliability, or the alleged inadequacy of growing technologies, including carbon management, often ignore the comprehensive analyses showing that the benefits of reducing pollution far outweigh costs. This is also evidenced by the evolving global market, existing infrastructure, and the EPA’s own determination of the feasibility of emissions reductions in America’s energy sector.

“Businesses must fight to preserve and strengthen science-based safeguards for clean air, a stable climate, healthy communities and a vibrant economy and continue to raise the business voice on behalf of people and the planet in the courts, Congress, and public discourse,” said David Levine, Co-founder and President, American Sustainable Business Network.

We urge business leaders to continue to advocate for Clean Air Regulations as this repeal moves through the rulemaking process in order to stand up for necessary regulations that allow businesses to operate efficiently and effectively.

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American Sustainable Business Network (ASBN) amplifies the collective voice of sustainable business to lead the way to a regenerative economy that is stakeholder-driven, just, and prosperous. As a multi-issue, membership organization advocating on behalf of every business sector, size, and geography, ASBN works to advance its mission to inform, connect, and mobilize sustainable business leaders, transforming the public and private sectors toward a just and regenerative economy.