North Dakota leaders have applauded a proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency to repeal existing emission standards that North Dakota and other states have challenged in court.

North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, along with 21 other states, had filed a petition for review in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, challenging the Biden administration’s 2024 rules as unconstitutional overreach aimed at killing coal fired energy production. The state argued the federal rule would require air toxin emission levels from coal-fired plants to be reduced drastically, with no corresponding health benefits and with great costs to states and their industries.

U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-ND, on Wednesday joined U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin in announcing orders to reverse policies unveiled during the Biden administration. Zeldin introduced a proposed repeal of all greenhouse gas emission standards for the power sector under the Clean Air Act as well as the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) amendments. The EPA had previewed its intent to repeal these regulations in March.

Between the two proposed actions, the power sector could save more than $20 billion dollars over the next two decades, with the bulk of that savings — about $19 billion – coming from the greenhouse gas rule, according to information from Cramer’s office.

“In North Dakota, we mine lignite coal and produce very reliable, long-term, steady electricity at a low cost,” Cramer said in a news release. “I’ve always resented that somebody in this building, at EPA, thought they cared more about the air, land, water, and economy than I did and my family did. Thank you to President Trump and Administrator Zeldin for recognizing American greatness, for giving this opportunity to both highlight it and change the rules in a more common sense and reasonable way.”

Repeal of the 2024 MAT amendments reverts the nation to standards set by the Obama administration in 2012.

Despite the Biden administration’s own admission that the 2012 standard adequately protected public health, Cramer’s information stated, it issued new amendments requiring installation and adaptation of continuous monitoring technology originally used for the detection of particulate matter instead of mercury, as well as costly mitigation methods unproven at the scale required for North Dakota’s lignite plants.

Gov. Kelly Armstrong, who had opposed the 2024 EPA rules while representing North Dakota in the U.S. House, met with Zeldin in Washington a month ago to discuss the repeal of the Biden administration rules on power plants.

“This is what smart federal regulatory reform looks like,” Armstrong said of the new EPA proposal in a news release. “It’s refreshing to finally have a regulatory agency that takes input from the people who produce what the world needs – and allows them to do it better than anyone else while protecting the environment.”

Congresswoman Julie Fedorchak, R-ND, also welcomed the EPA’s proposed repeal, calling it a big win for North Dakota energy and American manufacturing.

“These rules were crushing to North Dakota’s energy and power industry and to the cause of reliable, affordable power in our country. That’s why one of my first actions in Congress was urging the repeal of these and 18 other Biden rules that drove up costs, weakened national security, and threatened the reliability of our grid,” Fedorchak said in a news release.

“Today’s action by the EPA is a win for U.S. energy dominance and supports continued access to the affordable and reliable baseload power provided by coal,” said U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-ND, in a news release. “When imposing the Clean Power Plan 2.0 and MATS rules, the Biden administration acted in defiance of prior decisions from the Supreme Court, which outlined that such regulations fall far outside of the legal authority provided to the EPA by Congress. That’s why we continually pushed back on these federal overreaches, and we appreciate the Trump administration and EPA Administrator Zeldin for working with us to repeal these harmful rules.”