The Trump administration announced more than two dozen rollbacks of environmental regulations Wednesday that may affect efforts to limit pollution in Wisconsin from fossil fuel plants, vehicles and neighboring states.

In the announcement, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said agency officials are “driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion” to make it more affordable for people to buy cars, heat their homes and run businesses.

Among major changes planned, the EPA will revise carbon dioxide emission standards that would have required coal-fired plants and new natural gas plants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent come 2039. The Trump EPA says that standard would cost $15 billion over the next 20 years — the Biden administration had projected the standard would prevent $270 billion in climate damages.

The Trump administration is also looking to undo more restrictive standards for mercury and hazardous air toxins from power plants that aim to reduce pollution from those sources by roughly 70 percent.

Amy Barrilleaux, spokesperson for Clean Wisconsin, said the EPA’s mission is to protect public health and the environment, not reduce costs or unleash American energy.

“This might save big industry and power companies a few bucks, but Wisconsinites will be the ones paying that bill,” she said.

Most recent federal data shows the state’s power sector spends around $1.6 billion on coal and natural gas. Wisconsin consumers spend around $30.5 billion on energy across all sectors.

She highlighted that mercury pollution from coal-burning power plants is one reason why people can’t eat fish like walleye from some Wisconsin waterways. Mercury is one of the main pollutants that drive most fish consumption advisories, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

The most recent federal data shows coal made up 32 percent of the state’s power generation in 2023, which is down from 50 percent in 2018. Natural gas accounts for 43 percent of the electricity generated in Wisconsin. Around 34 percent of the state’s 90.6 million tons of carbon emissions come from burning fuels to produce electricity.

Electric providers had planned to retire three of the seven utility-scale coal plants operating in Wisconsin as they shift to wind and solar. Utilities like Alliant Energy and We Energies have said the transition away from coal is expected to save customers billions of dollars in the coming decades, but they have delayed those plans amid growing energy demand driven in part by data centers and concerns about the reliability of the regional grid.

Alliant Energy had planned to shut down Edgewater in Sheboygan this year, but it’s using coal until 2028 as it converts the facility to natural gas. After the November election, the utility delayed retirement of the Columbia Energy Center near Portage until 2029.

“Alliant Energy is monitoring the environmental regulations being reconsidered by the Trump Administration. We are proud of our diverse energy mix and will continue to balance our generation portfolio to provide customers safe, reliable and cost-effective energy,” Alliant spokesperson Melissa McCarville said in a statement.

We Energies, the state’s largest utility, retired two coal units at its Oak Creek plant and two more are expected to shut down this year. The utility is planning to bring a roughly $1.2 billion natural gas plant online in 2028, and it’s also converting its Elm Road coal plant to natural gas as part of plans to drop coal by 2032.

“All of our power plants are required to meet EPA rules and regulations. We are aware of Administrator Zeldin’s recent statement and will work with state and federal regulators on any changes that would be made in the future,” We Energies spokesperson Brendan Conway said in an email.

Scott Manley with Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce said the EPA’s move to revise environmental regulations is a step in the right direction. In fiscal 2023, the Biden administration estimated federal regulations cost businesses up to $19 billion, but manufacturers estimate those costs are even higher. Manley noted some regulations targeting power plants have already resulted in millions of dollars of costs for utilities to comply.

“Those costs, of course, get passed along to everybody with an electric bill, and some of those rules helped spur the closure of some power plants,” Manley said.

“Our administration is choosing the side of fossil fuels and not choosing the side of protecting our planet and moving us into the future where we can actually have clean energy,” said Montre Moore with the Environmental Justice and Infrastructure Initiative.

He said the organization would like to see coal plants close, saying pollution disproportionally affects Black and brown communities.

The Trump administration is also reconsidering a rule that strengthened national air quality standards for fine particle pollution, which can stem from burning coal. A 2022 analysis from Clean Wisconsin found communities of color are exposed to fine particle pollution 26 percent more than white residents in Wisconsin.

Moore added that pollution doesn’t stop at the state line. Among rules the Trump administration is rolling back is the Good Neighbor Plan that aimed to reduce smog or ozone pollution from power plants and industrial facilities in 23 states.

Clean Wisconsin’s Barrilleaux said the group intervened to protect the regulation from legal challenges to reduce pollution coming from outside sources.

“It’s really important in southeastern Wisconsin. We get a lot of pollution coming over from Illinois,” she said.

WMC’s Manley noted a U.S. Supreme Court ruling placed the rule on hold in states like Wisconsin. The group has previously requested an exemption from the rule due to concerns over the cost of pollution controls for Wisconsin manufacturers to meet air quality standards.

“Our hope is that as the EPA reconsiders the Good Neighbor rule, that they can do something that will actually pass legal muster and actually get to the point where some of our surrounding states will end up having to adequately address the pollution that they’re sending to Wisconsin,” Manley said.

Another rule being rolled back addresses tailpipe emission standards issued by the Biden administration that were aimed at ensuring two-thirds of all new car and pickup truck sales would be electric by 2032. The Trump administration has dubbed it an electric vehicle mandate.

The transportation sector accounts for the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions nationwide, and it makes up roughly one third of the state’s carbon emissions. The EPA has said the Biden administration tailpipe standards would avoid nearly 7.2 billion tons of carbon emissions through 2055.

Claire Gervais, a family medicine physician in Madison, noted the American Lung Association found a shift to zero-emission transportation could save Wisconsin $19 billion in health benefits.

“What that means is there’s significantly fewer premature deaths, fewer asthma attacks, fewer lost work days,” Gervais said. “Cancers are decreased, especially in those that are exposed, like truck drivers.”

Even so, Bill Sepic, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Automobile & Truck Dealers Association, said the new standards were too restrictive and unrealistic.

“The timeline is absolutely horrible,” Sepic said. “You can force everybody into an electric vehicle, and we don’t have the infrastructure in Wisconsin.”

Wisconsin was working to add around 65 fast-charging stations to expand electric vehicle infrastructure, but the Trump administration has halted federal funding for the nationwide buildout. 

Sepic added that 17 states have adopted California’s regulations for light and heavy duty vehicles. Sepic said that would mean more electric vehicles produced by automakers and fewer internal combustion engine cars, eliminating choice and driving up prices for Wisconsin consumers.

The number of electric vehicles in Wisconsin have roughly doubled from 2022 to 27,049 vehicles registered as of September last year. Even so, they still make up less than 1 percent of the 5.8 million vehicles on the road in Wisconsin.