By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (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.
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, 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.
The EPA said in a statement on Wednesday that the 2012 MATS rule provides “an ample margin of safety to protect public health,” and that its proposed 2024 additions would cost more than they benefit.
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 artificial intelligence 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 issued a proclamation inviting 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.
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.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
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