"As soon as the rule was released, the EPA employees started talking about how terrible this was going to be for the state of Illinois," said Nicole Cantello, president of AFGE Local 704, the union representing EPA workers in the Chicago area.

On June 11, 2025, the EPA Administrator signed a proposed rule that would repeal the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards established for fossil-fired power plants under the Biden administration’s Carbon Pollution Standards (CPS) and a 2015 GHG New Source Performance Standards rule.

Kentucky, still vastly reliant on fossil fuel-fired power plants, has much at stake in the EPA's power plant rulemaking.