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

Texas  – After taking the most pro-pollution action in modern history when he repealed the endangerment finding, Trump is going even further by allowing coal and gas plants to pump unlimited carbon pollution into our air.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 Texans 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 Texans 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 raise energy costs at a time when Texas 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, 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 Texas:

• Trump’s EPA repealed the endangerment finding, which obligated the federal government to protect communities from harmful air pollution that can cause life-threatening illnesses,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.
  • As of 2026, more than 3.9 million Texans were particularly vulnerable to air pollution due to age and at-risk health conditions.
• 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.
  • In February 2025, Johnson County declared a state of disaster after testing confirmed PFAS in soil, groundwater, surface water, and animal tissue at dangerous levels hundreds of times higher than EPA standards.
  • EPA data showed that at least 50 public water systems in Texas exceeded federal PFAS limits in drinking water.
• In November 2025, Trump’s EPA sought to roll back air pollution protections for soot, which is linked to heart attacks, cancer, and premature deaths. The standards were expected to provide up to $46 billion in public health benefits and avoid 4,500 premature deaths.
  • In 2025, 14 counties in Texas exceeded federal soot standards.

** Former Senior Advisor to the EPA Administrator Zealan Hoover is available for comment. Reach out to press@climatepower.us to schedule an interview **

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