Climate & Energy · Monday, 14 September 2026

01 Briefing what happened

The US environment agency is expected to scrap carbon limits on coal and gas power plants

Climate & Energy 20 sources

Reports say the EPA will announce the repeal at a G20 energy meeting in Houston, three days after a court ruled the US government overstepped its powers keeping a Michigan coal plant open.

5th

biggest climate polluter in the world, if US power plants were a country

only China, the whole United States, India and Russia put out more [1]

$259m

spent keeping Michigan's Campbell coal plant open past its closing date

a court ruled on Friday there was no real emergency to justify the orders [4]

About 6

US coal plants ordered to stay open under emergency powers

including plants in Indiana, Colorado, Florida and Washington state [4]

The lead story — what happened

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US agency that sets pollution rules, is poised to repeal its carbon pollution standards for coal and gas power plants, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday. [2]
The repeal could come as soon as Monday, on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 energy ministers in Houston, Texas. [2]
Lee Zeldin, who runs the EPA, is expected to announce it there, two people familiar with the plan told the New York Times. [1]
Reuters said it could not immediately check the report. [2] The EPA did not answer the Times late on Sunday. [1]
Power plants are the second-biggest source of greenhouse gases in the United States. [1]
If the US power sector were a country, it would be the fifth-biggest climate polluter in the world, after China, the whole United States, India and Russia. [1]
The repeal would finish off the most important climate policies of Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the Times reported. [1]
Legal challenges are expected. [1] If the repeal survives them, it could stop future US governments from limiting greenhouse gases from power plants. [1]
The G20 meeting runs from Monday to Wednesday, with US Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum due to attend. [3]
A Russian official will also attend, a US government official said, while the wars in Ukraine and Iran have made energy supply a worry for many countries. [3]
On Friday a US appeals court ruled that the Energy Department overstepped its powers by forcing the J.H. Campbell coal plant in Michigan to keep running past its planned closing. [4][5]
Keeping the 64-year-old plant open since May 2025 has cost about $259 million so far. [4] Opponents say families and businesses in the Midwest will likely pay it. [4]

Who is involved

Lee Zeldin

head of the US Environmental Protection Agency; expected to announce the repeal in Houston
Chris Wright

the US Energy Secretary; he used emergency powers to keep the Campbell coal plant running
Cornelia Pillard

a judge on the US appeals court in Washington, DC; she wrote Friday's unanimous ruling
Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota

three US states that went to court, with environmental groups, to let the plant close

How it unfolded

May 2025 The Campbell coal plant in Michigan is due to close, and the US Energy Department orders it to keep running [5]
Every 90 days The order is renewed, though earlier US governments used this power for only a few days at a time [5]
Fri 11 Sept A US appeals court rules there was no real emergency [4]
Sun 13 Sept Reports say the EPA will repeal carbon limits on coal and gas power plants [2]
Mon 14 Sept G20 energy ministers begin three days of meetings in Houston [3]

Where this points

Watch whether Lee Zeldin announces the repeal in Houston this week, and then whether states or environmental groups take it to court. [1][2]

What is pushing on the whole day

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing today. The arrow is where it is heading. The evidence is in the stories below.

Pollution rules not enforced High↑

The US EPA is reported to be about to scrap its carbon limits on coal and gas power plants. [2] Freeport LNG, a gas export plant in Texas, reported 532 pollution events outside its permits since 2019 and was fined seven times. [8]

Old power plants kept running Building↑

A US court said the Energy Department overstepped its powers keeping Michigan's 64-year-old Campbell coal plant open. [4] EDF, the French electricity company, borrowed 1 billion euros from investors to keep its nuclear reactors running for longer. [16]

Rain and heat past old records High↑

Up to 7 inches of rain fell on coastal Connecticut in one Sunday morning. [10] Almost two-thirds of the 6 million US culverts, the pipes that carry streams under roads, were built for weaker storms than today's. [14] The mainland US had its warmest summer since records began in 1895. [13]

Doubts about nuclear safety Building↑

Chubu Electric, a Japanese power company, is reported to be dropping its plan to restart the Hamaoka nuclear plant, after problems with its earthquake safety data. [6] Russia's nuclear chief said Ukraine attacked trucks bringing diesel for the backup generators at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. [9]

Wildlife back where it is protected Steady↑

Divers at Studland Bay in England now see seahorses on every dive, and special moorings keep boat chains off the seagrass. [19] A ban on one kind of lobster pot near Jersey, an island in the Channel, has helped lobster stocks since 1997, a report said. [20]

The rest of the day

13 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

02
Chubu Electric drops a nuclear restart

Chubu Electric, a Japanese power company, is making final plans to withdraw its request to restart the Hamaoka nuclear plant, the broadcaster NHK reported on Friday. [6] Earlier this year Japan's nuclear regulator paused its review of the restart, after Chubu said its earthquake safety data may have been put together dishonestly. [6] Chubu's shares fell as much as 4.2% on the report. [6] On Sunday NHK said the company's president, Kingo Hayashi, and chairman, Satoru Katsuno, will resign over the scandal, with an announcement expected on Monday. [7]

Why it matters — Japan's regulator stopped reviewing the restart once Chubu disclosed the problem with its earthquake data. [6] Now the restart is reported to be over, and the company's two most senior bosses are expected to leave too. [6][7]
03
A Texas gas plant broke its permits 532 times

Freeport LNG, the third-biggest US exporter of liquefied natural gas, reported 532 pollution events outside its permits since 2019, the watchdog group Oilfield Witness found. [8] The plant chills gas into a liquid so it can be shipped overseas in tankers. [8] Texas's environmental regulator sent it 76 violation notices and issued seven fines, together $610,000, about 2% of the plant's estimated 2025 revenue. [8] In 2024 part of the plant reported releasing 1,500 pounds of benzene, a chemical that can cause leukaemia. [8]

Why it matters — A former Texas regulator said the agency depends on companies' own reports of what they release, and prefers fixing problems to fining them. [8] The watchdog says the regulator kept accepting the company's adjustments, and the same problems were reported again the next year. [8]
04
Diesel trucks attacked at Zaporizhzhia, Russia says

Alexei Likhachev, head of Russia's state nuclear company, said Ukrainian forces struck diesel fuel trucks near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant on Friday, killing two Russian servicemen. [9] Zaporizhzhia, in Ukraine, is Europe's largest nuclear plant, with six reactors, and Russian forces have held it since the early weeks of the war in 2022. [9] When both of its outside power lines are down, diesel generators keep the nuclear fuel cool. [9] Both lines were down for nearly three weeks in August and September. [9]

Why it matters — Each side regularly accuses the other of putting the plant at risk, and the report carries only Russia's account. [9] The UN's nuclear watchdog keeps a team at the plant and helped arrange a local ceasefire last month so repairs could be made. [9]
05
Flash floods hit New York, New Jersey and Connecticut

Heavy rain on Sunday caused flash flooding across northern New Jersey, New York's Westchester County and coastal Connecticut. [10] The coast from Norwalk to Westport got 6 to 7 inches (15 to 18 centimetres) of rain in one morning, at up to 4 inches an hour. [10] Firefighters in Westport rescued 13 people trapped in cars, and crews in Paterson, New Jersey, rescued about 20. [10] Flash flood warnings also covered parts of Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia. [11]

Why it matters — It landed hardest on commuters and drivers: trains to New Haven were delayed or cancelled, and many of the people rescued were stuck in cars. [10] Paterson's mayor said there were no immediate reports of deaths. [10]
06
Himalayan glaciers melting 65% faster

Himalayan glaciers are losing ice 65% faster than a decade ago, says a new report from the consultancy Systemiq, with technical help from a mountain research centre called ICIMOD. [12] Only about 21 of the region's estimated 40,000 glaciers are watched closely year after year. [12] Retreating glaciers leave lakes held back by loose rock and ice, and India's government lists 56 of these lakes as very high risk. [12] The report follows floods in Nepal and Tibet that killed more than 1,300 people. [12]

Why it matters — The report estimates that Himalayan water supports about 20% of India's economy, through wheat, rice, tea and hydropower. [12] The mountain states that hold the glaciers keep only about 5% of that value, it says. [12]
07
The US had its warmest summer on record

The mainland United States had its warmest summer since records began in 1895, according to data released on Wednesday by NOAA, the US weather and oceans agency. [13] The average temperature from June to August was 74.4F, about 23.6C, across the 48 mainland states and Washington, DC. [13] That beat the old record, set in 1936 during the Dust Bowl drought, by 0.4F. [13] Much of the heat came from nights that would not cool down, especially in the West. [13]

Why it matters — The 1936 record had stood for 90 years. [13] Records go back to 1895, so this summer was the hottest of 132 measured. [13]
08
Most US culverts are too small for today's storms

Culverts are the pipes and tunnels that carry streams and rainwater under roads. [14] Almost two-thirds of the 6 million culverts in the United States were built to standards too weak for today's storms, according to the research group Headwaters Economics. [14] Jessica Boakye, an engineer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, modelled what happens when they fail in one Massachusetts river valley with 783 culverts and a single hospital. [14] In one scenario, 30% of the people there could not reach an emergency room. [14]

Why it matters — A failed culvert leaves people stranded and cut off from emergency services. [14] The study could only be done because county staff had inspected every culvert. [14]
09
Turkey has lost 186 of its 240 lakes

Of Turkey's 240 lakes, 186 have dried up, and nearly 80% of the country's water resources are being taken for use, the BBC reports. [15] Lake Kuyucuk, near the Armenian border, was 13 metres deep in 1997 and 1 metre deep by 2010. [15] Villagers' small dams on its streams and illegal wells had drained it. [15] The ecologist Cagan Sekercioglu persuaded villagers to take the dams down, and it survives as a wetland rather than dust. [15]

Why it matters — Eastern Turkey's wetlands are a stop for birds flying between Africa and Eurasia, and hold 68% of the bird species found in Turkey. [15] Lake Aktas, on the Georgian border, is the last lake in Turkey where both Dalmatian and great white pelicans still come. [15]
10
EDF borrows to keep reactors running longer

EDF, the French electricity company, sold 1 billion euros ($1.16 billion) of green hybrid bonds on Tuesday 8 September. [16] A bond is a loan from investors, and this money will pay for maintenance to keep EDF's nuclear reactors running for longer. [16] Investors offered more than 2.65 billion euros. [16] That demand let EDF cut the interest rate it pays to 5.375%, from about 5.75% at first. [16]

Why it matters — Lenders offered more than twice what EDF asked for, so keeping its existing reactors going will cost it less in interest. [16]
11
Sizewell C hires G4S, promising 400 jobs

Sizewell C, a new nuclear power station being built on England's Suffolk coast, has given the security and services company G4S a 10-year management contract. [17] The contract is expected to create 400 jobs, many of them in Suffolk, in maintenance, cleaning and other site work. [17] The plant costs 38 billion pounds and should be finished in the mid-to-late 2030s. [17] At the peak of building, about 2,600 of the 7,900 workers on site will come from East Anglia, the surrounding region. [17]

Why it matters — For Suffolk the plant is a source of work for a decade before it makes electricity. [17] The project also promises 1,500 apprenticeships, at least 540 of them for people from Suffolk. [17]
12
Rangers in Kenya's Maasai Mara ride electric

Joshua Kijape, a ranger in Kenya's Maasai Mara wildlife reserve, has patrolled for a year on an electric motorbike made by ROAM, a company in Nairobi. [18] Its quiet motor lets him get close to animals, and poachers cannot hear him coming. [18] Emboo River Camp in the Mara has run electric safari vehicles since 2019, charged only by solar power. [18] Its co-founder says converting a petrol safari vehicle costs $35,000 to $45,000 and pays for itself in two and a half to three years. [18]

Why it matters — The Mara is one of the world's most demanding places to run a vehicle. [18] Jason Knauf, who runs the Earthshot Prize, an environmental award, says success there strengthens the case for clean vehicles in other wild places and remote villages. [18]
13
Seahorses are back at Studland Bay

Divers who survey Studland Bay in Dorset, on England's south coast, now see seahorses on every dive, says the founder of the Seahorse Trust. [19] At one point the bay went two and a half years without a single sighting. [19] Last year had the most sightings since the pandemic, when fewer boats came to the bay. [19] There are now 87 special moorings that stop boat chains scraping the seagrass the seahorses need to breed. [19]

Why it matters — The seagrass grows in shallow water, where winter storms can tear it up. [19] A University of Southampton scientist says stormier, less predictable weather is a worry for it. [19]
14
Jersey may widen a lobster protection zone

Jersey's environment minister, Mary Le Hegarat, has lodged a plan to enlarge a zone around Les Ecrehous, about 10 kilometres north-east of the island, where parlour pots are banned. [20] A parlour pot has two or more chambers and is very effective at catching lobsters. [20] Jersey's commercial lobster catch has fallen steadily since 2015. [20] A report found that the zone, set up in 2018 after talks with French fishers, was a success but too small. [20]

Why it matters — A similar ban at Les Minquiers, south of Jersey, has been in place since 1997 and is generally agreed to have helped lobster stocks. [20] Fishers in both Jersey and France back the bigger zone. [20]

02 Lesson why it matters

Why a 90-day emergency order can last more than a year

The US kept a Michigan coal plant open with 90-day emergency orders, writing a new one each time, until a court said there was no emergency.

The twist

A 90-day limit only ends an emergency order if someone has to show the emergency is still real before the next order is written.

How it works

A US law lets the Energy Department order a power plant to keep running in an emergency
Earlier US governments used it for a few days at a time, during extreme weather
The order for Michigan's Campbell coal plant lasted 90 days
Each time it ran out, a new 90-day order was written
More than a year later, a court ruled there had been no emergency

The same force, elsewhere today

Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

Freeport LNG's permit breaks in Texas

Each break was handled as a one-off, the company's adjustment was accepted, and the same problem was reported again the next year, until the count reached 532.
The diesel trucks at Zaporizhzhia

Diesel generators are the backup for when the power lines fail, and for nearly three weeks in August and September they were the plant's only power.

Where you've seen this

Temporary classrooms

huts put up for one school year are still used decades later, because each year keeping them looks cheaper than building

Emergency laws

powers passed for a crisis are voted through again each year, and each vote is about one more year, not the whole decade

A spare tyre

it is made for a short drive to a garage, and every extra day on it adds wear it was not built for

The catch

Some emergencies really do last for years, and renewing an order is honest when the emergency is checked again each time.

And the whole of it

The officials who signed each order and the families paying for the plant each dealt with one 90-day order at a time. Nobody had to look at the whole year of orders together until three states and environmental groups took them to court.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

The Trump administration is reported to be about to remove the carbon limits on US coal and gas power plants, three days after a court ruled its emergency orders keeping Michigan's Campbell coal plant open went beyond its powers. [2][4] In Texas, the Freeport LNG gas export plant reported 532 pollution events outside its permits since 2019 and was fined seven times. [8]

Who gains

Owners of US coal and gas power plants — A repeal would free them from federal carbon pollution standards. [2]
Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota — The court agreed that states decide how their power is made, and the federal government should step in only when states and grid operators are unable or unwilling to act. [5]
Freeport LNG — Its seven fines came to $610,000, about 2% of the plant's estimated 2025 revenue. [8]
EDF — Investors offered more than 2.65 billion euros for 1 billion euros of bonds, so it borrowed at a lower rate. [16]
G4S — It won a 10-year contract to run services at Sizewell C, with an option for two more years. [17]
Safari camps in the Maasai Mara — A camp's co-founder says converting a vehicle to electric pays for itself in two and a half to three years through fuel and maintenance savings. [18]

Who pays

Families and businesses in the US Midwest — Opponents say they will likely pay the $259 million cost of keeping the Campbell plant open. [4]
Communities near Freeport LNG in Texas — Community leaders have complained about the plant, and part of it reported releasing 1,500 pounds of benzene, which can cause leukaemia, in 2024. [8]
Chubu Electric's shareholders — The shares fell as much as 4.2% on the report that the Hamaoka restart would be dropped. [6]
People in Massachusetts' Deerfield River valley — In one modelled scenario of culverts failing, 30% of residents could not reach an emergency room. [14]
India's Himalayan mountain states — Their water supports about 20% of India's economy, but they keep only about 5% of that value, a report says. [12]
Birds that stop at Lake Kuyucuk in Turkey — Villagers' dams and illegal wells took the water, and the lake fell from 13 metres deep in 1997 to 1 metre by 2010. [15]

What nobody knows yet

Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.

01

Whether the EPA actually announces the repeal this week, and in what form.

The reports rest on people who asked not to be named, Reuters could not confirm it, and the EPA did not answer the New York Times. [1][2]
02

Whether the repeal survives in court.

Legal challenges are expected, and the New York Times says a repeal that survives them could stop future US governments from limiting power plant carbon. [1]
03

Who ends up paying the $259 million spent keeping the Campbell plant open.

Opponents say Midwest families and businesses will likely pay it, and the Energy Department did not respond on Friday. [4]
04

What happens to the other coal plants kept open by emergency orders.

Orders also cover plants in Indiana, Colorado, Florida and Washington state, and Friday's ruling was about the Michigan plant. [4]
05

What really happened to the diesel trucks near Zaporizhzhia.

The only account in the report comes from the head of Russia's state nuclear company, and each side regularly blames the other for risks at the plant. [9]
06

Whether Chubu Electric's president and chairman do resign, and how its earthquake data went wrong.

NHK cited people it did not name, and the announcement was only expected on Monday. [7][6]
07

What Japan's state-owned lender finds about its $2.6 billion Freeport LNG loan.

The investigation was only announced earlier in September, after complaints from community leaders and environmental groups. [8]
08

How fast most Himalayan glaciers are really changing.

Only about 21 of some 40,000 glaciers in the region are watched closely year after year. [12]
09

Whether Studland Bay's seahorses are really recovering.

The founder of the Seahorse Trust says the long-term trend is hard to know, and storms can tear up the seagrass they breed in. [19]

04 Hope carry this

Volunteer divers at Studland Bay in Dorset now see seahorses on every dive. At one point the bay went two and a half years without a single sighting.

Also true today

In Kenya's Maasai Mara, a ranger has patrolled for a year on a quiet electric motorbike, and one safari camp has charged its vehicles only from solar power since 2019.
Around Les Minquiers, south of Jersey, a ban on one kind of lobster pot has been in place since 1997, and a report said it has helped lobster stocks.
Villagers in eastern Turkey took down the small dams that were draining Lake Kuyucuk, and it is still a wetland instead of dust.