By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) – The Trump administration announced on Friday it will roll back clean air regulations limiting mercury and hazardous toxins from power plants, saying it will boost baseload energy, while public health groups warn it will harm America’s most vulnerable.
President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency has said that easing the pollution standards 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.
Environmental groups have said that weakening standards for mercury, a neurotoxin that can impair babies’ brain development, and other air toxics will lead to higher health-related costs.
SUPREME COURT REJECTED CHALLENGE TO REGULATIONS
The 2024 Biden-era Mercury and Air Toxics Standard, which updated standards set in 2012 under President Barack Obama’s administration, had still been in force after the Supreme Court declined a challenge from a group of mostly Republican states and industry groups calling for a suspension of the regulations.
Those rules would have reduced allowable mercury pollution from coal plants by 70%, emissions of nickel, arsenic, lead and other toxic metals by two-thirds and result in health cost savings of $420 million through 2037, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.
The EPA said that the 2012 MATS rule provides “an ample margin of safety to protect public health,” and that the 2024 additions carry more costs than benefits.
In the final ruling published on Friday, the EPA said reverting to 2012 standards would result in cost savings of between $69 million and $78 million per year over the 2028 to 2037 time frame.
Environmental and health groups have countered that public health costs of reverting to the less stringent standard dwarf any cost savings.
“The updates passed in 2024 were going to…achieve $300 million in additional health benefits,” said Harold Wimmer, president of the American Lung Association. “They’ve protected pregnant women, infants and children from harmful exposure and saved thousands of lives each year.”
AGING PLANTS FACE HIGH MAINTENANCE COSTS
Research firm Energy Innovation found that aging coal plants still face rising costs from higher maintenance expenditures. From 2021 to 2024, it found that coal plant costs rose 28%, including three of the plants that would be affected by this repeal.
Utilities had been phasing out aging coal-fired generators, which are major sources of mercury and carbon emissions, but Trump has promised to reduce barriers to meet rising electricity demand from AI and data centers.
He declared an “energy emergency” last year to justify moves to keep open aging coal plants that have been set for closure and exempt aging coal plants from key air regulations.
Last spring, he invited coal plants to request by email to be exempt from MATS regulations for two years as part of his administration’s energy emergency. Sixty-eight plants were granted exemptions.
Last week, the EPA announced it was repealing the “endangerment finding,” which gave the agency the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and the White House directed the Pentagon to purchase power from coal plants for military use.
The National Mining Association on Friday praised the move, saying the Biden-era standard led to coal plant closures.
“With power demand growing rapidly from the AI revolution, coal generation will be a critical part of the comprehensive energy strategy required to affordably and reliably meet it,” the NMA said in a statement.
Coal-burning power plants are among the largest sources of hazardous air pollution, including mercury, lead, arsenic, and acid gases, as well as major sources of benzene, formaldehyde, dioxins and other organic hazardous air pollutants.
Coal plants generate less than 20% of U.S. electricity, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The Union of Concerned Scientists said the EPA’s final rule would also discard requirements for coal-and oil-fired power plants to provide operational transparency around their emissions.
“In attempting to justify this indefensible broadside against public health, EPA Administrator [Lee] Zeldin is now actively hiding from the public massive health harms associated with this repeal,” said Julie McNamara, associate policy director of climate at the UCS.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Aurora Ellis and Sharon Singleton)
