Environmental groups warn that weakening air toxics and mercury standards will lead to higher health-related costs
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 the most vulnerable groups in the US.
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 datacenters used for artificial intelligence.
But 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.
The Biden-era Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (Mats), 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.
