Dive Brief:
- Chief executives of nonprofit electric cooperatives this week called on the federal government to repeal greenhouse gas standards for gas-fired power plants that they say are hampering their ability to meet surging electricity demand, particularly from large-load data centers.
- The rule, finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2024, uses power plants’ capacity factor to determine how strictly their emissions are regulated. New gas-fired plants with a capacity factor greater than 40% must meet a carbon dioxide standard based on highly efficient combined cycle combustion technology and install carbon capture technology to capture 90% of all CO2 emissions by 2032, according to a note from the law firm Holland and Hart.
- Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, said during a Wednesday press event that the rule’s 40% capacity threshold and its carbon capture requirement are “untenable,” and his trade association supports the Trump administration’s efforts to fully repeal the rule, and is “anxious” to see progress on that front. “This is a significant threat to our ability to do our job,” he said.
Dive Insight:
In June 2025, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin proposed a repeal of all greenhouse gas emissions standards for the power sector. The EPA then sent a proposed “Carbon Pollution Standards Repeal” rule to the Office of Management and Budget for review in May, but the 90-day review deadline passed earlier this month with OMB yet to take action.
At Wednesday’s event, Oglethorpe Power Corp. President and CEO Annalisa Bloodworth called the rule “deeply flawed” and “genuinely … the most irrational environmental regulation I've personally encountered in my career.”
Also on that call were Todd Brickhouse, CEO and general manager of Basin Electric Power Cooperative, and David Tudor, CEO and general manager of Associated Electric Cooperative. Tudor said that the co-ops run by himself, Brickhouse and Bloodworth cover “about 60% of the cooperative family across the United States.”
Matheson said that the Trump administration “clearly understands our issues,” but when it comes to the status of the rule’s proposed repeal, he lacks “insight on what goes on behind closed doors.”
“We are anxious to see action on this,” he said. “We all understand all the factors that are driving increased demand for power in this country. We all understand that natural gas is the go-to for new generation in this country.”
Matheson said he supports an outright repeal of the rule as he doesn’t believe it can be modified “in a way that makes sense.” The 40% threshhold does not “work for us,” he said, and carbon capture and sequestration technologies “are not commercially viable.”
Bloodworth agreed, saying a full repeal of the rule is “what we need to be able to plan and to invest with confidence.”
Brickhouse said that while renewables make up 30% of Basin’s generation portfolio, meeting data center demand with renewable energy generation backed up by diesel is not ideal due to the “very high load factor” of data centers.
“If it's a 1,000-MW data center, they're going to consume close to 900 MW or 1,000 MW around the clock, 24/7, 365 [days a year], and we need, from a reliability perspective, to have a generating unit like a combined cycle facility that can match that,” he said. “Wind works up here, but we have wind turbines that have capacity factors of 40%. But at the same time, you cannot rely on wind turbines when a data center is going to have a load factor of 95% to 100%.”
Facts Only
* Chief executives of nonprofit electric cooperatives called on the federal government to repeal greenhouse gas standards for gas-fired power plants.
* The EPA finalized a rule in 2024 regarding greenhouse gas emissions standards for power plants.
* The rule uses power plants’ capacity factor to determine emission regulations.
* New gas-fired plants with a capacity factor greater than 40% must meet carbon dioxide standards using highly efficient combined cycle combustion technology and install carbon capture technology to capture 90% of CO2 emissions by 2032.
* Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, stated the rule’s 40% capacity threshold and carbon capture requirement are untenable.
* Matheson's trade association supports efforts to repeal the rule.
* Annalisa Bloodworth called the rule "deeply flawed" and "the most irrational environmental regulation" in her comments.
* Todd Brickhouse mentioned that meeting data center demand requires generating units capable of matching high load factors (95% to 100%).
* The capacity factor for wind turbines is cited as 40%.
Executive Summary
Nonprofit electric cooperative executives called for the federal government to repeal greenhouse gas standards for gas-fired power plants, citing difficulties in meeting electricity demand from large data centers. The EPA finalized a rule in 2024 that uses power plant capacity factor to determine emission regulations. Specifically, new gas-fired plants exceeding a 40% capacity factor must adhere to carbon dioxide standards based on highly efficient combined cycle combustion and install carbon capture technology to capture 90% of CO2 emissions by 2032. Several leaders expressed concern over these requirements, with some deeming the thresholds and mandates untenable.
Key figures involved in the discussion included Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, who supported a full repeal, and Annalisa Bloodworth, President and CEO of Oglethorpe Power Corp., who called the rule "deeply flawed." Other representatives, Todd Brickhouse and David Tudor, indicated that the co-ops they represent cover approximately 60% of the cooperative family in the United States. Furthermore, concerns were raised regarding the commercial viability of carbon capture technologies and the reliability of certain energy sources when meeting high demand loads from data centers.
Full Take
The conflict presented involves a fundamental tension between regulatory goals—environmental mitigation and energy reliability—and operational realities, particularly concerning future infrastructure deployment. The core tension revolves around whether prescriptive emission standards based on specific technological mandates (like carbon capture by 2032) are appropriate when faced with rapidly shifting energy demands driven by sectors like data centers.
The divergence in views highlights a gap between regulatory architects and the regulated entities. While proponents of the current structure emphasize environmental goals, critics from the cooperative sector frame the rules as an impediment to necessary economic operations and infrastructure planning, particularly regarding the commercial viability of mandated solutions. The argument shifts from "what is environmentally sound" to "what is economically and technically feasible for essential services."
The persistence of a debate on the repeal versus modification suggests that current regulatory frameworks are failing to adequately integrate evolving technological capabilities (like advanced generation or novel sequestration methods) with the immediate, high-stakes operational needs of energy providers serving diverse loads. The anxious call for repeal implies a perceived failure of the existing system to adapt flexibly enough to handle competing demands without imposing commercially unviable constraints on essential energy generation required to meet growing national demand patterns.
BRIDGE QUESTIONS: If the focus shifts from outright repeal to modifying the requirements, what specific technical metrics or performance benchmarks could be introduced that allow operators to balance emission reduction goals with operational necessity? How can regulatory bodies better quantify the trade-offs between capital investment in abatement versus maintaining reliable supply for high-load computational demands? What mechanisms exist to ensure that environmental standards remain relevant and adaptable as energy technology evolves beyond current commercial expectations?