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A coal-fired power plant in the community of Springdale, Pennsylvania.Robert Nickelsberg\/Getty<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tGet your news from a source that\u2019s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.<\/a><\/p>\n This story was originally published by\u00a0the Guardian<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0is reproduced here as part of the\u00a0Climate Desk<\/a>\u00a0collaboration.<\/p>\n Almost all coal-fired power plants in the US had the ability to comply with rules limiting their emission of dangerous pollutants such as mercury that can cause brain damage in children. Despite this,\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s administration decided to demolish the standards anyway.<\/p>\n Last week, the Trump administration\u00a0said it is loosening restrictions<\/a>\u00a0on air toxins from mercury, lead, and other heavy metals that are released by coal plants. Such pollution is known to be\u00a0neurotoxic<\/a>\u00a0and has been linked to irreversible brain damage in children and infants, as well as\u00a0heart disease<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0cancer<\/a>\u00a0in adults.<\/p>\n Stricter limits were placed on mercury, lead, and arsenic pollution in 2024 under Joe Biden\u2019s administration, updating the\u00a0Mercury and Air Toxics Standards<\/a> (MATS) first enacted in 2012, but have now been ditched by Trump. The pollution cuts \u201cwould have destroyed reliable American energy,\u201d said Lee Zeldin, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president just did a blanket exemption\u2026It was just: Send an email to the EPA and get a free pass to pollute.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n However, the EPA\u2019s own previous\u00a0analysis<\/a>\u00a0shows that only 27 coal plants across the US, out of\u00a0around<\/a>\u00a0219 total coal facilities, would have to adopt any sort of technological upgrade, such as filters in their smokestacks, to meet the stronger standards.<\/p>\n This means that the safeguards have been entirely reversed by the\u00a0Trump administration<\/a>\u00a0in order to allow a minority of the US\u2019s dirtiest, most unhealthy coal plants, located in states including Wyoming, Texas, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, to continue as they are.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s infuriating that this rollback is happening given that only a small number of coal plants would have to make upgrades,\u201d said Surbhi Sarang, senior attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). \u201cThis decision is completely ridiculous and not based on any reality. We can easily have a reliable grid and cleaner air at the same time, we have the technology to do so.<\/p>\n \u201cThese MATS rules have been incredibly successful in reducing mercury pollution that we know is a risk to children\u2019s brains and can cause cardiovascular and kidney disease. The health impacts of this rollback will be felt in communities living near these coal plants.\u201d<\/p>\n The Trump administration has gone to extraordinary\u00a0lengths<\/a>\u00a0to reverse coal\u2019s long decline in the US, forcing coal plants to\u00a0remain open<\/a>\u00a0beyond their planned retirement dates, incurring large costs for residents, and requiring the department of defense to purchase electricity sourced from coal, the most\u00a0carbon-dense<\/a>\u00a0fuel that is a key driver of the climate crisis.<\/p>\n This month the president was crowned the \u201cundisputed champion of beautiful clean coal\u201d at an\u00a0unusual ceremony held at the White House<\/a>. \u201cUnder our leadership, we\u2019re becoming a massive energy exporter,\u201d said Trump, surrounded by coal miners wearing helmets. \u201cWe\u2019re lifting up our hard-working American miners like nobody has ever done before.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, the administration even told coal plant operators to\u00a0simply send an email<\/a>\u00a0to the president to ask for emergency exemptions from air pollution rules. None of these subsequent requests were denied by Trump.<\/p>\n In total, 71 coal plants across 24 states were allowed to opt out of the mercury pollution rules that the administration is now formally unwinding, according to\u00a0records<\/a>\u00a0obtained by the EDF.<\/p>\n Trump lied during his State of the Union speech when he said his energy policies have lowered costs for households. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Not only did Trump agree to every single request for an exemption, for up to two years, these exemptions were provided for longer periods than many of the coal plant operators asked for and handed out even when operators said they had the technology to comply with the limits.<\/p>\n Major coal plants across the US received a waiver from pollution rules, including the huge James H Miller coal facility in Alabama, which in recent years has been\u00a0cited<\/a>\u00a0as the largest single greenhouse gas emitter in the US, according to EPA data. (Alabama Power has described it as a \u2018key part\u2019 of its supply to customers.)<\/p>\n \u201cThe president just did a blanket exemption without looking at the facilities or tailoring the requests in any way,\u201d said EDF\u2019s Sarang. \u201cThere was none of that\u2014it was just: Send an email to the EPA and get a free pass to pollute.\u201d<\/p>\n An EPA spokesperson did not address questions on the capability of coal plants to meet the Biden\u2019s 2024 MARS regulation but added the rule \u2018\u201cimposed massive costs and red tape on coal-and oil-fired power plants, driving up the cost of living for American families, jeopardizing our grid reliability and national security and limiting American energy and manufacturing dominance.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Trump EPA\u2019s repeal of the Biden 2024 MATS amendments ensures the continuation of the highly effective and robust 2012 MATS requirements, which have protected of public health and the environment for years.\u201d<\/p>\n As well as rolling back a host of air and water pollution rules, the\u00a0Trump administration<\/a>\u00a0recently scrapped a key finding that greenhouse gases harm human health, a determination that underpins all climate laws in the US. This rollback, as well as the MATS reversal, is being challenged by environmental groups in court.<\/p>\n The president has called clean energy a \u201cscam\u201d and praised coal as \u201cbeautiful\u201d and \u201cclean\u201d despite its\u00a0unequivocal<\/a>\u00a0role in causing severe illnesses and deaths and worsening the climate crisis.<\/p>\n\n
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