Two announcements, one week

Days apart, the EPA scrapped climate pollution limits for fossil fuel power plants and launched a study testing drinking water for abortion medication.

Zeldin in oil country

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin told G20 energy ministers in Houston he was ending carbon standards for coal and gas plants, framing 15 years of rules as a war on coal.

“The Trump Administration has come in to protect American energy and to make sure you can afford to keep the lights on.”

What the rollback costs

Power plants are the second-largest source of US carbon pollution. The Biden rules would have cut 1.38 billion metric tons by 2047, plus smog, mercury and lead.

A year of dismantling

February brought the repeal of vehicle climate standards and the 2009 endangerment finding, the ruling that said greenhouse gases threaten human health.

The water study's real audience

The EPA will screen for abortion pills, contraception, gender-affirming care hormones and 1,000 other chemicals. Students for Life had lobbied for it for years.

“The Pro-Life Generation is finally being heard!”

Scientists call it a distraction

Mifepristone is a one-time dose taken by a small slice of the population, unlike most pharmaceuticals. Researchers say the real water threats are elsewhere.

“There are legitimate water quality threats that we need to attack and rectify in a regulatory manner. And then there are things that are out in left field.”

Detection is the point

The EPA says the study only checks whether a chemical is present, not how much. A former EPA water scientist warns any trace will become a talking point.

“If there is any detectable level of mifepristone or its metabolites, the anti-abortion groups will scream that we are unknowingly aborting fetuses by drinking public tap water.”

Why the movement pivoted

Abortions have risen since Dobbs, largely through mifepristone and misoprostol. Blocked at the clinic, opponents are opening an environmental front.

Lawyers are already moving

Environmental groups are preparing legal challenges to the climate rollback, calling it a license for the fossil fuel industry to keep polluting.

“This is full-throated climate denial while the climate crisis happens in real time and a shocking betrayal of the American public.”