EPA Relaxes Limits on Toxins From Coal-Powered Plants

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday weakened limits on mercury and other toxic emissions from coal-fired power plants, the Trump administration's latest effort to boost the fossil fuel industry by paring back clean air and water rules. Toxic emissions from coal- and oil-fired plants can harm brain development in young kids and contribute to heart attacks and other issues in adults. The plants are also a big source of greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change. The EPA announced the repeal of the tightened Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule, or MATS, at a coal plant next to the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky, per the AP.

"[The] EPA's actions today [right] the wrongs of the last administration's rule and will return the industry to the highly effective original MATS standards that helped pave the way for American energy dominance," said the EPA's David Fotouhi. The agency said the change should save hundreds of millions of dollars. The final rule reverts the industry to standards first established in 2012 by the Obama administration that have reduced mercury emissions by nearly 90%. The Biden administration had sought to tighten those standards even further after the first Trump administration had moved to undermine them.

Coal-fired power plants are the largest single human source of mercury pollutants. Power plants release the mercury into the atmosphere, which then falls in rain or simply by gravity, entering the food chain through fish and other items that people consume. Environmental groups said the tightened rules have saved lives and made communities that live near coal-fired power plants healthier. Industry groups, however, argue the tougher standards, along with other rules that limited emissions from coal plants, made operating them too expensive.

The Trump administration has also issued emergency orders halting the planned shutdown of several coal plants. Officials say the plants produce consistent power during major storms or other times when need is high. Removing coal would reduce the grid's reliability, they say. Activists, however, say favoring coal makes little sense at a time when renewables are cleaner, cheaper, and reliable. "By weakening pollution limits and monitoring for brain-damaging mercury and other pollutants, they are actively spiking any attempt to make America—and our children—healthy," said Gina McCarthy, who headed the EPA under former President Obama. More here.