Bianca Sanchez, bianca.sanchez@sierraclub.org
RICHMOND, Va. - According to reporting, Donald Trump’s administration will propose to repeal the Endangerment Finding for power plants today – a move that would strip the Environmental Protection Agency of one of its most powerful tools for combating climate change, the authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas power plants under the Clean Air Act.
Virginia gas and coal plants emitted a combined 28.9 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2025, equal to the emissions produced by 6.7 million gas-powered cars annually. Dominion Energy Virginia ranked seventh in highest emitting local utilities, having emitted 24.9 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2025. Dominion’s 2024 Integrated Resource Plan increased their impact, by adding 6 GW of new gas generation between 2030 and 2035.
“No part of today’s proposal will benefit Virginians,” said Connor Kish, Director of the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter. “Already, we are facing increased energy demand and proposed gas buildout driven by power-hungry data centers. Handing gas, oil, and coal companies a free pass to pollute our communities without any semblance of accountability is especially detrimental to our air, our wallets, and future generations. Rolling back pollution standards will not lower costs for families or tackle the effects of climate change. Instead, families will pay the price as extreme weather becomes more frequent and costly.”
Repealing the Endangerment Finding for power plants, is another one of Trump’s attempts to bolster the profits of a struggling coal industry and deliver directly on the promises EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin made to the corporate executives at a National Coal Council meeting in July, where he vowed to fulfill the industry’s “wish list.” The handouts and regulatory giveaways come as renewable energy continues to outperform coal in the marketplace. In May, solar energy generated more electricity than coal across the entire country.
“While wildfires rage, floods devastate communities, and families struggle to afford skyrocketing electricity bills and insurance premiums, the Trump administration is handing the fossil fuel industry a license to keep polluting,’ said Sierra Club Chief Program Officer Holly Bender. “This is full-throated climate denial while the climate crisis happens in real time and a shocking betrayal of the American public. The Sierra Club will fight back against this reckless and dangerous proposal with everything we have in the courts, in Congress, and in communities across the country.”
Background
The Endangerment Finding is a 2009 scientific determination by the EPA that greenhouse gasses pose a significant threat to public health and the environment. It is the legal cornerstone of the EPA’s authority to regulate climate pollution under the Clean Air Act – the foundation upon which vehicle standards, power plant rules, and other climate protections have all been built. The nonpartisan National Academies of Sciences confirmed last year that the finding “was accurate, has stood the test of time, and is now reinforced by even stronger evidence.”
Combined with the administration’s February repeal of the Endangerment Finding for motor vehicles, today’s proposal is part of a sweeping effort to dismantle the legal foundation for federal climate regulation, leaving the EPA legally unable to act on the two largest sources of carbon pollution in the country.
The Sierra Club helped bring the landmark Massachusetts v. EPA Supreme Court case that established EPA’s obligation to regulate greenhouse gas pollution under the Clean Air Act. The EPA’s greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator is here.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.