Image: The Mill Creek Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant in Louisville, Kentucky, is seen on February 14, 2026.Jon Cherry / Getty Images

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) repealed Biden-era regulations that forced power plants to cut harmful pollutants including brain-damaging mercury and particulate matter, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin announced on Friday.

At an event at the Mill Creek Power Plant in Kentucky, the agency announced the repeal of a 2024 rule known as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for power plants, or MATS.

The repeal specifically scrapped tighter limits on particulate matter and mercury air pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants, as well as a requirement that all power plants use a continuous monitoring system for particulate matter. These changes remove a mandatory 70% reduction in mercury emissions from plants that burn a type of coal called lignite, and a 67% reduction in toxic metals such as lead, nickel and arsenic from all coal plants.

The EPA said the 2025 amendments were unnecessary, drove up energy costs for Americans, and were part of what the agency called the Biden administration’s “war on coal.”

“The Biden-Harris Administration’s anti-coal regulations sought to regulate out of existence this vital sector of our energy economy. If implemented, these actions would have destroyed reliable American energy,” Zeldin said in a statement. “The Trump EPA knows that we can grow the economy, enhance baseload power, and protect human health and the environment all at the same time.”

Both House and Senate Republicans praised the rollback.

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