What does Trump’s EPA reversal of landmark climate change ruling mean for Illinois?

PEORIA — As Illinois officials remain strongly committed to closing coal-fired power plants, federal policies under the Trump administration are creating uncertainty, spurring legal action and a push by some to keep the plants open.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump and Lee Zeldin, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, announced the repeal of what is known as the “endangerment finding,” which provides the backbone for federal government environmental regulations on greenhouse gas emissions. The move means the federal EPA will no longer regulate dangerous emissions from sources like cars, trucks and power plants.

Environmental organizations now fear these policy shifts could change the calculus for plant operators and potentially slow planned closings. According to the National Institutes of Health, coal burning plants are a major source of air pollution, emitting toxins like sulfur dioxide, black carbon and metals into the air.

Cate Caldwell, senior policy manager at the Illinois Environmental Council, said that while the state’s Clean and Equitable Jobs Act puts the state on a strong path to limiting pollution — the act calls for closing the plants by 2030 — it can’t provide enough incentives for clean energy without support from federal action. She said the ruling could create temporary economic incentives for the continued operation of coal-powered plants.

Read More: Business coalition warns against phasing out use of natural gas in Illinois

“CEJA is a strong policy foundation for Illinois, but it works best when federal policy supports, rather than diminishes, state climate progress,” Caldwell said. “The big picture is this: federal policy and state-level policy can enhance one another and deliver incredible progress when working in tandem.”

Illinois has joined a coalition of 24 states in suing the EPA over its decision to renounce its fight against climate change.

“Rescinding this EPA determination will undo progress we have made to address climate change by eliminating existing EPA greenhouse gas emission standards for vehicles and undermining the EPA’s mandate to regulate harmful air pollution that causes climate change,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a statement.

Gov. JB Pritzker also has spoken out forcefully in opposition to the repeal: “While (Trump) sells out our nation’s future, I won’t stop believing in the science and fighting for what Illinoisans need — affordable energy, clean air and water and good jobs,” he said after the repeal was announced in February.

Rep. Charlie Meier, R-Okawville, said he supports the administration’s decision to repeal the endangerment finding. “It made it harder for states like Illinois to keep reliable power online,” he said, adding that the state needs to stop doubling down on “unrealistic mandates that drive up prices for folks across Illinois and weaken our energy grid.

“Illinois is facing serious energy grid challenges because of Springfield’s push to shut down coal and natural gas plants irresponsibly,” Meier said in a statement to Capitol News Illinois. “The repeal removes a federal barrier that was driving energy policy in the wrong direction.”

At the same time, officials at a local utility union that represents workers from the Powerton Generating Station in Pekin and the Kincaid Generating Station — IBEW Local 15 — are hoping the new federal policies prevail. Ben Busser, vice president for the local, said that he supports the federal government’s attempts to extend generating stations beyond their scheduled retirement dates through executive orders.

Since last May the U.S. Department of Energy has issued a series of emergency orders requiring multiple coal-fired power plants in the Midwestern, Southern and Western United States, and in Puerto Rico, to remain operational beyond their planned retirement dates.

“It seems like the extensions are for 60 to 90 days at a time but there have been multiple extensions in some cases,” Busser said. “There has been some hope due to seeing this occur in other states including Michigan, Indiana, Washington and Colorado. Maybe it is possible to see that happen in Illinois”

Busser said, typically, the jobs offered by coal stations are in rural locations without many other career opportunities. With the closure of the plants, Illinois will lose approximately 140 Union jobs. “Our members do know of their plants’ scheduled closure dates, and they are scared about what they will do following their station’s closure,” he said.

The state, however, is also suing the federal administration for moving to maintain coal fired plants to continue operating beyond their retirement dates. Raoul joined Minnesota’s attorney general Keith Ellison in saying the decision would increase “the amount of pollution emitted in the region, harming the public’s health and welfare.”

Without the support from the federal government, Jack Darin, director of the Illinois chapter of the Sierra Club, said state departments like the Illinois EPA and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources will have to step up and do more, provided they have the budget. The Sierra Club also sued the federal EPA over the repeal of those protections.

“It’s what we need to do to not follow the federal government in taking us backwards to dirtier air and blocking clean energy jobs,” Darin said.

Caldwell said that federal policies shifting to favor fossil fuel generation could slow the pace of clean energy deployment and complicate Illinois’ transition. “Federal rollbacks could create market uncertainty, slow investment and misrepresent regional power markets, making it harder and more expensive for Illinois to meet its climate and clean energy targets,” she said.

Illinois has a long history with coal. It was in Illinois where the first recorded coal reserves in North America were discovered in 1673.

Until recently, the two coal fired plants operated in or near Peoria were the E.D. Edwards Power Plant near Bartonville and the Powerton plant. The pollution generated by them has, throughout time, been linked to adverse health effects in surrounding communities.

Martha Ross, a Peoria Public School board member and South Side resident, organizes meetings in the city to discuss those issues.

“Their children (struggle) with asthma, but they just go to the emergency room,” Ross said. “Nobody’s going to get into the real problem: What’s causing those issues. And I do think it has a lot to do with the environment.”

Federal environmental rules played a role in getting the Edwards plant closed in 2023. Three non-profit organizations (Natural Resources Defense Council, Respiratory Health Association and Sierra Club) sued Illinois Power Resources Generating, at-the-time the owner and operator of the E.D. Edwards plant. The organizations argued the plant violated certain Clean Air Act emission standards on thousands of occasions between 2008 and 2014.

On Sept. 16, 2019, the non-profit organizations announced a settlement in the case that included the shuttering of the plant by the end of 2022.

The Powerton Plant, located in nearby Pekin, remains open, though CEJA provisions put it on a path to close by 2030. According to Vistra, the Kincaid Plant’s administrator, the plant is slated to close by 2027. Caldwell remains hopeful that Illinois laws and its lawmakers will ensure that happens.

“CEJA established clear long-term clean energy targets and timelines, coal plants face increasing economic pressure from cheaper renewable energy and declining operating margins,” she said. “Illinois has made a clear policy commitment to transitioning to a cleaner power sector.”

Gabriel Castilho is a graduate student in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications, and is a fellow in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.