WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 President Donald Trump is granting two years of regulatory relief to coal-fired power plants, chemical manufacturers and other polluting industries as he seeks to reverse Biden-era regulations he considers overly burdensome.
Trump issued a late Thursday exempting a range of industries that he calls vital to national security.
The proclamations cover coal-fired power plants, taconite iron ore processing facilities used to make steel, and chemical manufacturers that help produce semiconductors and medical device sterilizers.
The proclamations allow the facilities to comply with Environmental Protection Agency standards that were in place before rules imposed in recent years by President Joe Biden's administration, the White House said.
Trump called the Biden-era rules expensive and, in some cases, unattainable. His actions will ensure that 鈥渃ritical industries can continue to operate uninterrupted to support national security without incurring substantial costs,'' the White House said in a fact sheet.
Trump鈥檚 EPA had earlier from air-pollution rules for the same reasons. The EPA also from requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals such as mercury, arsenic and benzene. An electronic mailbox set up by the EPA allowed regulated companies to request a presidential exemption under the Clean Air Act to a host of Biden-era rules.
Environmental groups have denounced the offer to grant exemptions, calling the new email address a 鈥減olluters鈥 portal鈥 that could allow hundreds of companies to evade laws meant to protect the environment and public health. Mercury exposure can cause brain damage, especially in children. Fetuses are vulnerable to birth defects via exposure in a mother鈥檚 womb.
Within weeks of the EPA's offer, industry groups representing hundreds of chemical and petrochemical manufacturers began seeking the blanket .
The Clean Air Act enables the president to temporarily exempt industrial sites from new rules if the technology required to meet them is not widely available and if the continued activity is in the interest of national security.
John Walke, clean air director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, said Trump鈥檚 claims about technology problems and national security concerns were 鈥減retexts鈥 so he could help big corporations get richer.
鈥淧resident Trump just signed a literal free pass for polluters,鈥 Walke said. 鈥淚f your family lives downwind of these plants, this is going to mean more toxic chemicals in the air you breathe.鈥
In April, the EPA granted nearly 70 coal-fired power plants from federal requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals. A list lists 47 power providers 鈥 which operate at least 66 coal-fired plants 鈥 that are receiving exemptions from the Biden-era rules.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced plans in March to roll back on everything from clean air to clean water and climate change. Zeldin called the planned rollbacks the 鈥渕ost consequential day of deregulation in American history."
of the proposed rollbacks concluded that rules targeted by the EPA and save $275 billion each year they are in effect. The included the agency鈥檚 own prior assessments as well as a wide range of other research.
In a related development, the EPA said Thursday it will give utility companies an additional year to inspect and report on contamination from toxic coal ash landfills across the country.
鈥淭oday鈥檚 actions provide much needed regulatory relief for the power sector and help ... unleash American energy," Zeldin said.
