Repealing power plant limits is a good start. ARC-ES would give it lasting impact.
September 21, 2026
By Gary Abernathy
It was big news when the EPA announced last week that it was “repealing rules that limit planet-
warming greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas,” as the New York Times reported.
The change “represents a fundamental shift from efforts by Democratic Presidents Joe Biden
and Barack Obama to address climate change and regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that trap the sun’s heat,” according to the Times.
While the expected outcry from the climate crusaders was fast and furious, and court challenges
are expected post haste, it’s getting increasingly difficult for the radical left to gain sympathy in the face of mounting evidence that their bombastic claims about climate damage are, well, overheated.
The resilience of Planet Earth continues to confound the doomsayers. One recent example
among many comes from Antarctica. In 2023, a “new scientific analysis,” as NPR reported, worried that that we faced “a picture of a continent in trouble. Sea ice is disappearing, gigantic portions of the West Antarctic ice sheet are crumbling and even relatively stable East Antarctica is showing worrying changes.”
But guess what? The evaporating sea ice actually led to an increase in snowfall, which helped
the Antarctic Ice Sheet to grow. The European Space Agency reported that “sea ice loss may account for about 11% of the winter snowfall increase, and around 3% in summer.”
The result? As Ruth Mottram, climate scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute, said,
“Antarctica is finely balanced right now. Yes, the snowfall increase has pushed the mass budget into
positive territory, but the flow of ice into the ocean is also accelerating. A few years with fewer
atmospheric rivers could easily tip things back the other way.”
Or not.
Another small example of taking a breather from constant panic came earlier this month buried
deep in another story from the New York Times. As the far-left (formerly mainstream) media is obliged to do, the story – which focused on this season’s El Nino weather pattern – led off with a recap of reported downsides, before finally finding someone to contribute a modicum of balance when discussing the likelihood of more rainfall across parts of the South.
“This El Niño may actually bring some needed relief to the area, with increased precipitation in
the Southern U.S.,” crop scientist Dr. Weston Anderson said, noting that winter wheat crops, for
instance, would stand to benefit. The Times article also devoted one small aside to the astounding fact that there have been no hurricanes in the Atlantic this year. But how much good climate news can we really expect from a publication serving as one of the leading climate alarmists out there?
It was interesting to see a former climate reporter recently come clean about the bias inherent
in most climate stories.
“When I was a climate reporter I never covered positive climate stories because it would ‘muddy
the narrative’ that climate change was an existential threat,” Lucy Biggers posted on X. “I think this is why we rarely see events like this year’s historically quiet eastern hurricane season covered widely by the news. Many reporters believe covering it will ‘give fodder to climate change deniers.’”
It is against this backdrop that the Trump administration, led by the EPA, keeps doing its best to
forge a path down Reality Road, repealing rules instituted during the height of climate change hysteria.
At the same time it repealed the coal and gas power plant limits, the EPA also sought to “prevent future administrations from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants” by following the blueprint of similar action on motor vehicles earlier this year.
“The February action eliminated all greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks,”
the Times reported. “The new plan would apply similar logic to a broader undoing of climate regulations on stationary sources such as power plants.”
While the EPA’s laudable intent is to make it difficult for future administrations to revert to the
old far-left ways when it comes to stifling America’s energy output, the best way to achieve that goal is to enact the Affordable, Reliable, Clean Energy Security Act (ARC-ES), introduced in Congress last year by U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson (R-OH). ARC-ES would guarantee that our most abundant and cost-effective energy resources will always remain a crucial part of the mix, making it much more difficult for the climate zealots to ever again justify funneling billions in taxpayer subsidies to so-called “alternatives.”
Short of ARC-ES gaining sufficient support in Congress, President Trump should issue an
executive order immediately implementing the core elements of the legislation. The greatest gift the
Trump administration could offer to all Americans is the safety, security and affordability of effective, reliable and abundant energy for generations to come.
It’s clear that facts have overcome fear. The sun is setting on the dire predictions of the climate
doomsayers. The EPA is right to roll back the disastrous, stifling and price-hiking power plant regulations from the Obama and Biden eras that were based on failed forecasts. Putting teeth into the rollback by making ARC-ES the law of the land would truly herald a new dawn breaking.
Gary Abernathy is a longtime newspaper editor, reporter and columnist. He was a contributing
columnist for the Washington Post from 2017-2023 and a frequent guest analyst across numerous media platforms. He is a contributing opinion columnist for The Empowerment Alliance, which advocates for realistic approaches to energy consumption and environmental conservation.