The Environmental Protection Agency is loosening requirements controlling how power plants treat and dispose of toxic waste, fulfilling a top request of coal producers.
Power companies and coal producers had long complained about the Obama-era regulations, which they said were too costly and would force coal plants to shut down prematurely.
The Trump EPA’s new rule relaxes those requirements by extending deadlines by which coal plants must install pollution controls, requiring less costly treatment technologies and allowing facilities to discharge more wastewater.
It also exempts certain facilities altogether, including coal plants that are slated to shut down or switch to burning natural gas by 2028.
The revised rules show “President Trump’s commitment to advancing American energy independence and protecting the environment,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a statement. “Newer, more affordable pollution control technologies and flexibility on the regulation’s phase-in will reduce pollution and save jobs at the same time.”
Environmentalists and former EPA officials, however, have argued the changes would allow coal-fired power plants to release more toxic pollution, such as mercury and selenium, that could ultimately end up in drinking water.
The toxic pollution can end up in waterways when facilities dump wastewater created from cleaning air filters without treating it. Coal plants have also long stored the toxic ash created from burning coal in containment ponds that can leak.
Prior to the Obama administration’s rule, most coal plants didn’t have any limits on the toxic pollutants in their wastewater, despite several large leaks and spills of toxic waste.
Nonetheless, the EPA says its revisions will save companies $140 million each year while reducing toxic pollution by nearly 1 million pounds per year greater than what the Obama-era controls would have.
The cheaper technology the EPA is requiring coal plants to use to treat the wastewater created when facilities clean their air filters is comparable to what the Obama-era regulation had dictated, an EPA senior official told reporters Monday.
The EPA is also creating voluntary initiatives, through which facilities can sign onto even stricter controls on toxic pollution, that will prompt additional reductions, the official said.
“This new rule replaces a prime example of regulatory overreach that was specifically designed to stack the deck against the coal industry when compared with other fuels,” said Rich Nolan, head of the National Mining Association, in a statement.
“The coal industry wants to be able to compete while also safeguarding important environmental protections — this rule shows that balance is possible,” Nolan added.
