Washington (AP)-The Trump government has granted (*70*) 70 coal-fired power plants to a two-year liberation from the federal requirements for reducing emissions of toxic chemicals such as mercury, arsenic and benzene.
A list that was tacitly published on the Environmental Protection Agency website on Tuesday lists 47 power providers who operate at least 66 coal-fired power plants, the exceptions to the rules of the bid era as part of the Clean Air ACT, including a regulation that limits air pollution from mercury and other toxine. The measures followed by President Donald Trump last week to strengthen the fighting coal industry last week, a reliable but soiled energy source that has been degenerating for a long time.
Among the plants that receive exceptions is the Colstrip generation station, a massive power plant in Colstrip, Montana, which, according to EPA, spends more toxic air pollutants such as lead and arsenic than any other US facility of this kind. Other plants with exceptions are the Coal Creek Station, a vast power plant in North Dakota, which is one of the top producers of the country’s Mercury emissions, and the OAK Grove plant in Texas, another great smoker.
The excluded plants are owned by some of the country’s largest energy supply companies, including Talen Energy, Dominion Energy, NRG Energy and Southern Co.
The exceptions also apply to four plants operated by Tennessee Valley Authority, the largest public supply company in the country.
In an explanation on Tuesday, the EPA said that the President’s exceptions will “increase coal production and ensure that the network of our nation is reliable, that electricity is affordable for the American people and that the EPA contributes to promoting our nation’s energy security.”
Michelle Bloodworth, President of a lobby group for coal-fired power plants, said Trump realized that the coal fleet of the country was “for maintaining a robust and protected power supply da backbone of our economic
Rules that were imposed at the former President Joe Biden “did not match the Clean Air Act and, based on an improper analysis of the data,” she said.
The mercury rule completed last year would have contributed to the early resignation of dozens of coal units, said Bloodworth and added that the plants are necessary to support the reliability of the power grid.
Environmentalists described the exceptions – which require presidential research that the technology required to fulfill the up-to-date rules is not widespread and that the continued activity of the plants prescribes national security – a breach of duty by Trump and EPA administrator Lee Zeldin.
“These passports to pollute a tattered hole through the heart of the federal protection for the air that we breathe,” said Maya Golden-Krasner, a senior lawyer at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group. “It is insulting to suggest that it is a question of national security to force people from Montana to Alabama.
Environmental groups and supporters of public health have denounced the administration plan to grant exceptions that could enable hundreds of companies to avoid laws to protect the environment and public health.
Critics call the up-to-date E -Mail address set up by the EPA to request the exceptions to request a “dirty portal”.
Exceptions can be administered for nine EPA rules, including limits, ethylene oxide and other unsafe air pollutants. Mercury exposure can lead to brain damage, especially in children, and birth defects can occur in the womb after exposure.
Last week Trump used his emergency authority in a series of Executive Orders to enable some older coal-fired power plants for retirement to continue to generate electricity in order to meet the increasing US performance requirements in terms of growth in data centers, artificial intelligence and electric cars. Trump also indicated the federal authorities to identify cabbage tours in federal areas, to lift obstacles to coal mining and prioritize cabbage in US countries.
Trump, a Republican, has long promised to promote what he describes as a “beautiful” coal for fireplace plants and other purposes.
