Trump EPA to weaken rule limiting harmful mercury, air toxics from coal plants [View all]

Source: Reuters

The Trump administration announced on Friday it will roll back air regulations for power plants limiting mercury and hazardous air toxics at an event in Kentucky, a move it says will boost baseload energy but that public health groups say will harm public health for America's most vulnerable groups.

President Donald Trump's EPA has said that easing the pollution standards for coal plants would alleviate costs for utilities that run older coal plants at a time when demand for power is soaring amid the expansion of data centers used for artificial intelligence.

The Biden-era Mercury and Air Toxics Standard, which updated standards set in 2012 under the Obama administration, had still been in force after the Supreme Court declined to put the rules on hold after a group of mostly Republican states and industry groups led a legal challenge to suspend it.

That rule would reduce allowable mercury pollution from the coal plants by  70%, emissions of nickel, arsenic, lead and other toxic metals from coal plants by  two-thirds and result in health cost savings of  $420 million  through 2037, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/trump-epa-weaken-rule-limiting-harmful-mercury-air-toxics-coal-plants-2026-02-20/