Electric cooperatives are pressing for the repeal of federal gas power plant emissions regulations ahead of peak AI load periods.

“We are anxious to see action on this,” said National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson. “We all understand that natural gas is the go-to for new generation in this country.”

In June 2025, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin proposed a repeal of all greenhouse gas emissions standards for the power sector. The EPA subsequently sent a proposed “Carbon Pollution Standards Repeal” rule to the Office of Management and Budget for review in May. The 90-day review deadline passed earlier this month, however, with the 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 noted that the cooperatives run by himself, Brickhouse, and Bloodworth cover “about 60% of the cooperative family across the United States.”

Matheson said the Trump administration “clearly understands our issues,” but he lacks “insight on what goes on behind closed doors” regarding the repeal’s status. He reiterated his support for an outright repeal, arguing the rule cannot be modified “in a way that makes sense.” The 40% threshold “does not work for us,” he added, noting that carbon capture and sequestration technologies “are not commercially viable.”

“We are anxious to see action on this,” Matheson 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.”

Bloodworth agreed, stating that a full repeal is “what we need to be able to plan and to invest with confidence.”

From an operational perspective, Brickhouse highlighted the challenges of aligning renewable energy with modern industrial demand. While renewables comprise 30% of Basin Electric’s generation portfolio, meeting data center requirements with renewable generation backed by diesel is impractical given the “very high load factor” of such facilities.

“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%.”