Trump is Giving Corporate Polluters Another Blank Check to Pollute While Americans Pay the Price With Their Health

Weakening limits on coal and gas plants will allow corporations to pump toxins into our air that can cause life-threatening conditions

Trump has rolled back 65 pollution protections estimated to prevent 30,000 deaths per year and save $275 billion annually

Washington, DC – After taking the most pro-pollution action in modern history when he repealed the endangerment finding, Trump is reportedly going even further today by allowing coal and gas plants to pump unlimited carbon pollution into our air. With this rollback, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is handing a favor to corporate polluters while the rest of us pay the price with higher medical bills and more trips to the hospital. 

Trump’s actions to gut pollution protections — rubberstamped by Republicans in Congress — are making Americans sicker at the same time they have increased health care costs and paved the way for massive profits for their oil and gas donors. On top of that, his effort to prop up dirty, expensive coal power could actually raise energy costs at a time when American families are already struggling to keep the lights on. 

Former Senior Advisor to the EPA Administrator Zealan Hoover issued the following statement: “By eliminating the power plant pollution standards, Trump is choosing to allow preventable asthma attacks, heart disease, and even deaths. With more coal and gas being burned to power data centers, the impacts of this rollback will hit particularly hard in states like Texas, Georgia, Ohio, and Arizona where developers are racing to take advantage of this pro-polluter EPA. Instead of ‘Making America Healthy Again,’ Trump is telling the biggest fossil fuel companies that they can make Americans sicker just to add to their bottom lines.” 

Trump and Republicans in Congress have increased pollution and hurt public health across the country: 

• Trump’s EPA repealed the endangerment finding, which obligated the federal government to protect communities from harmful air pollution that can cause life-threatening illnesses, including asthma and lung cancer. 
• Trump’s EPA weakened limits on toxic “forever chemicals” (PFAS) pollution, allowing more dangerous pollutants into the air and water. PFAS have been linked to a range of health problems, including cancer. 
• Trump’s EPA delayed deadlines for toxic coal ash landfills to track and implement groundwater monitoring, allowing more harmful chemicals into the water.
• Coal ash, which is stored in sites at risk of spilling into rivers and lakes, contains chemicals such as arsenic, selenium, lead, mercury, and boron that are known to cause cancer, neurological damage, and heart problems. 
• The wide-ranging pollution protections gutted by Trump’s EPA were estimated to prevent 30,000 deaths per year and save $275 billion annually. Five of the EPA-targeted protections alone were estimated to deliver $200 billion in net benefits.
• Trump’s EPA weakened limits on gas-fired power plants’ nitrogen oxide pollution. Nitrogen oxide is a key contributor to ozone and smog that worsens health conditions such as asthma. The standards were projected to save $340 million by 2032, or $46 million annually.
• Trump’s EPA reversed more than 40 years of precedent by no longer accounting for the value of health and lives saved when setting standards for toxic air pollution.