FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 22, 2026
MEDIA CONTACT
Andrew Whelan, CleanAIRE NC, (919) 229-9293, [email protected]
CleanAIRE NC strongly condemns the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to roll back federal protections limiting climate pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants. This is a massive step backward for public health and climate action that threatens to set North Carolina’s communities and economy back decades.
Power plants remain among the largest sources of greenhouse gases in the United States; weakening requirements to control that pollution moves the country in the wrong direction. Fossil fuel pollution has been shown to increase risks for cardiovascular disease, asthma, and premature death. The EPA’s own analysis of the 2024 power plant standards being targeted estimate the rules would prevent approximately 1,200 premature deaths annually by 2035.
At a time when North Carolina communities are already confronting extreme heat, toxic air pollutants, and other public health consequences of a changing climate, we should be reducing pollution from major sources, not removing the safeguards designed to contain them.
While the EPA presents this rollback as a cost-saving measure for industry, that calculation ignores the overwhelming health and environmental costs of everyday people. The targeted Biden-era rules were estimated to save $370 billion in climate and public health costs through 2047. The true cost of these rollbacks will be felt in the health impacts in communities living near pollution sources and by people across the country experiencing the consequences of climate change.
“Erasing these standards doesn’t save money,” said Jeffrey Robbins, Executive Director of CleanAIRE NC. “It simply transfers the financial burden from corporate polluters onto the backs of patients, families, and
ratepayers.”
And last week’s rollback follows the EPA’s concerning decision earlier this year to stop collecting data on healthcare cost savings from regulations on fine particulate matter and ground-level ozone, the two most harmful air pollutants in the United States. Hiding the numbers does not eliminate the health impacts of dangerous fossil fuel emissions.
“Federal rollbacks make state leadership more urgent than ever,” added Robbins. “We cannot rely on this administration to protect the air we breathe. We call on the North Carolina Utilities Commission and state leaders to enforce our state’s carbon reduction targets and accelerate a rapid, equitable transition to clean energy.”
North Carolinians can also participate in the federal rulemaking process by providing testimony at the EPA’s virtual public hearing on October 1 (deadline for speaker registration is September 29), or by submitting written comments by November 2. More details and the speaker registration form can be found at:
https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/9005215/EGU-GHG-Public-Hearing2026
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CleanAIRE NC is a statewide nonprofit organization advocating for the health of all North Carolinians by pursuing equitable and collaborative solutions that address climate change and air pollution.
