Miller joins with EPA administrator to announce plans to deregulate power plant pollution limits
By Autumn Shelton, RealWV
WASHINGTON, DC – West Virginia Congresswoman Carol Miller joined U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin on Wednesday at a press conference announcing two proposals to repeal federal limits on power plant pollution.
These two proposals would repeal all “greenhouse gas emissions for the power sector under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act (CAA)” and “repeal amendments to the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) that directly result in coal-fired power plants having to shut down,” according to a EPA press release.
“I’m thrilled to be joining everyone here today to repeal the Biden-era Clean Power Plan 2.0 and the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards,” Miller, a Republican serving the state’s first congressional district, said. “I’m a West Virginian. I have seen first-hand what bad policy can do. It does bad things.”
Miller went on to say that one county in her district, McDowell County, has lost population (due to the decline in the coal industry) – from about 100,000 residents in the 1950s to under 20,000 residents today.
“People who wanted to work had to make decisions on what they were going to do, how they were going to take care of their families, how they were going to feed them,” Miller continued. “So, they up and left. They went to Columbus, went to Nashville, went to Charlotte – anywhere they could get a job.”
Miller said that in addition to the policies being harmful to her home state, they are also “nonsensical to our grid.”
“Coal is a reliable, baseload energy,” Miller added. “And, at a time when electricity demand is rising . . . they need us . . . it shouldn’t be punishing coal operators. It should be welcoming them.”
The Clean Power Plan of 2015, which set out to reduce carbon emissions from power plants and curb climate change, was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 in the case of West Virginia vs. EPA. Prior to the Supreme Courts ruling, however, the Clean Power Plan had been replaced with the Affordable Clean Energy Rule of 2019.
In 2024, the “Clean Power Plan 2.0” was an attempt by the Biden administration to revamp the former Clean Power Plan of 2015.
According to Miller, the rules in the Clean Power Plan 2.0 “imposed enormous costs and with little environmental benefit on existing coal fired power plants and newly constructed gas fired power plants both. If enacted, they would have shut down the majority of our coal producers in 2032.”
Following the press conference, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey issued a statement applauding the proposals to repeal power plant environmental regulations.
“Administrator Zeldin’s decision to withdraw the unlawful Greenhouse Gas Rule and the deeply flawed Mercury and Air Toxics Standards is a major victory for West Virginia, our energy producers, and every American who depends on reliable, affordable electricity, Morrisey stated. “As Attorney General, I fought back against the Green New Deal and led a national coalition of states in the legal battle to stop the Clean Power Plan, securing a historic and unprecedented stay from the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016. We kept fighting and ultimately won at the highest court in West Virginia v. EPA, a decisive ruling that reaffirmed what we had argued all along: major policy decisions like reshaping our energy grid must come from Congress, not from unelected federal bureaucrats. These rules were a direct assault on our coal communities, designed to force a rapid transition away from fossil fuels by imposing unworkable emissions standards on existing power plants. This action by Administrator Zeldin restores constitutional order and delivers long-overdue relief to states like West Virginia that have been unfairly targeted for years.”
However, opponents of the proposals to repeal federal limits on power plant pollution state that this new policy will have serious effects on public health and air quality as well as contribute to climate change.
On June 12, the Sierra Club, a nationwide grassroots environmental organization, issued a press release stating that President Trump and the EPA are now being sued over their April decision to exempt 68 coal fired power plants from Mercury and Air Toxics standards.
“This is a political favor for coal corporations that results in families and children breathing more mercury and arsenic, chemicals that cause cancers and birth defects,” Earthjustice attorney Nicholas Morales was quoted in the press release. “Trump and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Zeldin claim they care about cleaning our air, our water, even our food, and yet their actions consistently tell a different story.”
