EPA Rolls Back Power Plant Rules While NIPSCO and CenterPoint Keep Coal Running Past Retirement

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin finalized what he called the largest power sector deregulatory action in U.S. history on September 17, repealing most of the Biden-era carbon standards for fossil fuel power plants and claiming $300 billion in national savings. Governor Mike Braun and IDEM Commissioner Clint Woods both called the rollback a positive development for Hoosiers, while the Sierra Club's Indiana chapter called it the removal of essential public health protections, and national environmental groups have already filed suit. The rollback lands while NIPSCO's Schahfer coal units in Jasper County and CenterPoint's Culley units in Warrick County are already running past their planned retirement dates under a fourth straight 90-day federal must-run order, extended through December 18. NIPSCO spent $116.7 million in the first quarter of 2026 to keep Schahfer running while recovering only $33.5 million in electricity sales from it, and the utility is now seeking $38 million in quarterly cost recovery from ratepayers. EPA is also arguing, citing the Loper Bright and West Virginia v. EPA Supreme Court decisions, that the Clean Air Act cannot be used to regulate greenhouse gases at all, a legal theory that would prevent any future administration from reinstating these rules without new legislation from Congress. We've been tracking the Schahfer cost recovery fight at NIPSCO Schahfer Units Offline: FERC Docket EL2636 and in Indiana's Coal Retention Costs and the AES Rate Increase.