Trump EPA will weaken the rule limiting harmful air toxins and mercury from coal plants
The Trump administration announced Friday that it would roll back clean air regulations that limit mercury and hazardous toxic pollutants from power plants. Public health groups warned it would harm America's most disadvantaged.
The Environmental Protection Agency of President Donald Trump has stated that easing pollution standards would?alleviate the costs for utilities who run older coal-fired plants, at a moment when the demand for electricity is on the rise due to the expansion data centers for artificial intelligence.
Environmental groups claim that lowering standards for air toxics such as mercury, which is a neurotoxin and can affect the brain development of babies, will increase health costs.
The Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to the Regulations
The Supreme Court refused to suspend the 2024 Biden Mercury and Air Toxics Standard which updated the standards established in 2012 by President Barack Obama.
These rules would have allowed coal plants to reduce mercury pollution by as much as 70%. Nickel, arsenic and toxic metals like lead, nickel, or arsenic would have been reduced by 70%. by? Health costs will be reduced by?$420 millions? According to the Environmental Defense Fund, this will continue until 2037. According to the EPA, the 2012 MATS rule offers "an adequate margin of safety" for protecting public health. The 2024 additions are more costly than beneficial. The EPA stated in its final ruling, published on Friday that reverting back to the 2012 standards could result in savings between $69 and $78 millions per year over the time period 2028-2037.
Environmental and health groups countered by saying that the public health costs associated with a return to a less stringent standard would dwarf any savings.
Harold Wimmer, President of the American Lung Association, said that "the updates passed in 2020 would...achieve 300 million dollars?in additional benefits to health." They have protected infants, children and pregnant women from harmful exposure.
Plants that are aging face high maintenance costs
Energy Innovation, a research firm, found that coal plants are still facing rising maintenance costs due to their age. It found that between 2021 and 2024 coal plant costs increased by 28%. This included three plants that will be affected by the repeal.
Utilities have been phase out coal-fired generators that are major sources for mercury and carbon emission. But Trump has promised to lower barriers to meet the rising demand of electricity from data centers and?AI.
He declared "energy emergencies" in order to justify his decision to exempt coal plants set to close and keep them open, as well as to continue to operate them.
As part of the energy crisis, he sent an email last spring inviting coal plants to apply for exemptions from MATS regulations. Sixty eight plants received exemptions.
The EPA announced last week that it was repealing its "endangerment findings," which gave the agency the authority?to regulate greenhouse gas emission, and the White House instructed the Pentagon to buy power from coal plant for military use.
The National Mining Association praised this move on Friday, saying that the Biden-era standards led to coal plant closures.
The NMA stated that coal generation is a crucial part of a comprehensive energy strategy to meet the growing demand for power.
The coal-burning power plant is one of the biggest sources of air pollution. This includes mercury, lead and arsenic as well as benzene and formaldehyde.
According to the Energy Information Administration, coal plants produce less than 20 percent of U.S. electric power. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the EPA final rule will also eliminate requirements that coal and oil-fired plants provide operational transparency about their emissions.
Julie McNamara is the associate policy director for climate at UCS. She said, "By trying to justify this indefensible assault on public health, EPA administrator Zeldin now actively hides from the public the massive health harms that are associated with this repeal." (Reporting and editing by Aurora Ellis, Sharon Singleton, and Valerie Volcovici)
(source: Reuters)
