The US Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a watered-down version of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) to replace it. Under the new terms, states would be able to write their own legislation on coal-fired power plants.

Since taking office in January 21017, President Donald Trump has repeatedly slammed the clean air and water programs of his predecessor, with Scott Pruitt, Trump’s pick as EPA administrator, willingly looking for ways to defang them to please the energy sector.

Pruitt was forced to step down earlier this year amid personal scandals, but his work has been continued by acting administrator, Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist.

Under the new proposals, states would be required to submit plans for improving efficiency of coal-fired power plants. The federal government would set carbon emission guidelines, but states could undercut them, taking into account a facility’s age and the cost of upgrades.

The new rules also could allow power plant owners to sidestep expensive permits for planned improvements. “The era of top down, one-size-fits-all federal mandates is over,” Wheeler said in announcing the plans. The attorneys general of Virginia and New York, however, said they would sue to block the rule if it becomes law.

The EPA has calculated that the new plan would result in $400 million a year in economic benefits and reduce retail power prices by up to 0.5% by 2025. Under the radar, the agency has estimated carbon that CO2 emissions would be higher than under the Obama policy, while pollution-related premature deaths, hospital admissions, asthma cases and school absence days could be rise up to 2030.

Relativizing the new proposals, the EPA’s assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, Bill Wehrum, said that in fact energy sector emissions would be similar to the goals set by the Obama administration because the industry has already shifted toward cleaner fuels.

The EPA has forecast that under the new rules US coal production would rise by up to 5.8 % by 2025. The new proposals are open for public comment period, with a final rule expected later this year.

Former President Barack Obama’s CCP plan called for cutting emissions from power plants to 32% below 2005 levels by 2030. After the Supreme Court in reaction to a 2016 lawsuit by energy-producing states said the EPA had exceeded its legal reach, the agency stopped the plans.

According to reports, many US states have already complied with the Obama plan by switching to natural gas and renewable energies such wind and solar, which are is cheaper than coal.