"The agency is changing the way it calculates the benefits of mercury controls, a move that would effectively loosen the rules on other toxic pollutants."
"WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday weakened regulations on the release of mercury and other toxic metals from oil and coal-fired power plants, another step toward rolling back health protections in the middle of a pandemic.
The new Environmental Protection Agency rule does not eliminate restrictions on the release of mercury, a heavy metal linked to brain damage. Instead, it creates a new method of calculating the costs and benefits of curbing mercury pollution that environmental lawyers said would fundamentally undermine the legal underpinnings of controls on mercury and many other pollutants.
By reducing the positive health effects of regulations on paper and raising their economic costs, the new method could be used to justify loosening restrictions on any pollutant that the fossil fuel industry has deemed too costly to control."
Lisa Friedman and Coral Davenport report for the New York Times April 16, 2020.
SEE ALSO:
"Air Pollution: EPA Rolls Back Basis For Power Plant Toxic Emissions Rule" (Greenwire)
"Trump Undermines Mercury Curbs in Move That Could End Mandate" (Bloomberg Environment)
"Court Battle Seen After EPA Rescinds Mercury Limit Rationale" (Bloomberg Environment)
"EPA Guts Rule Credited With Cleaning Up Coal-Plant Toxic Air" (AP)
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