EPA scrambles to test water for abortion drugs while rolling back power plant emissions rules

At a G20 energy gathering in Houston, Texas, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin told ministers the agency plans to eliminate the carbon-pollution standards for fossil-fuel power plants that were put in place by previous administrations, arguing the change will keep electricity affordable. Within days, the EPA issued a press release announcing a nationwide water-testing initiative that will search for abortion medication, contraception, gender-affirming hormones and over 1,000 other substances.

Anti-abortion leader Kristan Hawkins praised the effort as a response to “abortion pill pollution.” Environmental scientists such as Nathan Donley and former EPA water scientist Betsy Southerland warned the focus distracts from genuine water-quality threats and could be weaponized to restrict reproductive rights. The rollback of power-plant rules is expected to raise emissions of carbon dioxide, mercury and lead, undoing reductions projected under the Biden era.

Conservation groups, including the Sierra Club, say they will sue the agency over the climate policy reversal. Together, the actions illustrate the administration’s push for “energy dominance” and a new strategy linking environmental regulation with reproductive-rights politics.