Trump Issues Historic PROCLAMATION!
Trump Exempted Dirty Coal Power Plants From Clean Air Standards For Toxic Mercury And Other Hazardous Air Pollutants
Trump Falsely Claimed Pollution Control Technology Does Not Exist
Environmental Groups And State Officials Again Caught Flat Footed
Last week, Trump delivered on what is likely to be just the first round of exemptions threatened by his broad Executive Order regarding Clean Air Act standards for industrial emissions of toxic chemicals, including highly toxic mercury.
Real Presidents issue Proclamations to do BIG things like liberate people from oppression and preserve sacred native American lands - fascist frauds likeTrump use that power to protect polluters.
(and someone should call Bobby Kennedy, because, as he has bragged many, many times, he began his career fighting mercury poisoning of fish and purports to know and care about the toxicology of pregnant women and children who eat them. Ironically, his fish mercury work led him to his work on vaccines.)
On April 8, Trump issued a Proclamation that exempted more than 47 coal power plants from EPA's Clean Air Act mercury and hazardous air pollutant standards, see the EPA announcement:
The Trump Proclamation was based on the outrageous lie that "The technology to implement the Rule is not available."
The media reported some of this, but missed the fact that the scope of the exemptions Trump can issue is far broader than just coal power plants.
Trump's Clean Air Act exemption power includes many industrial emission sources, including from synthetic organic chemical manufacturing, copper smelting, iron and steel manufacturing, rubber tire manufacturing, lime manufacturing, coke ovens, battery manufacturing, and taconite iron ore processing.
Although NJ has no coal power plants, that's why I petitioned NJ DEP to adopt current EPA regulations as State requirements to avoid rollbacks (the legislature could codify them as well), see:
Equally important, those exempted coal power plants not only emit huge quantities of greenhouse gases that are driving the climate emergency, they contribute to mercury poisoning and air pollution in NJ. This is known as "long range transport" . NJ already has a statewide fish consumption advisory due to high levels of mercury and NJ fails to meet Clean Air Act health stands for ozone and fine particulates. So the Trump exemptions poison NJ too.
While the media have covered the Trump coal power exemptions, the media has totally failed to cover the major regulatory rollbacks the Trump administration can accomplish not only under the Clean Air Act Presidential exemption provision, but under Trump's emergency declarations.
Virtually all federal regulations provide "flexibility" to waive, exempt, streamline, expedite, and rubber stamp environmental reviews and approvals by federal agencies, and not just EPA.
There are many invisible shoes now dropping under this fake emergency - like trees falling in the woods that no one hears.
We've been warning about this literally for years (we began in July 2023, with a warning on the dangerous implications of Project 2025: we warned about all that in July of 2023, BEFORE the election:
Chapter 13 [of Project 2025] provides a radical agenda to dismantle EPA and virtually all regulatory, science, and climate programs.
Yet, once again, State officials and environmental groups and media were all caught flat footed and into a reactionary posture totally reliant on lawsuits after the fact.
Given that these Trump rollbacks all have been telegraphed far in advance, one would think that State officials and environmental groups would get out in front in a circle the wagons strategy and full throated public campaign.
One would be wrong. Malpractice and incompetence are too soft to describe this negligence.
Regardless, I wrote another letter to State legislators and DEP Commissioner LaTourette urging them to respond, see:
Dear Commissioner LaTourette: As you know, President Trump issued a Proclamation which exempted more than 47 coal power plants from EPA's Clean Air Act mercury and hazardous air pollutant regulations, see the EPA announcement:
Presidential Proclamation – Regulatory Relief for Certain Stationary Sources to Promote American Energy
The coal powered energy facilities exempted represent over one third of current US coal capacity, see:
Trump exempts more than a third of US coal capacity from updated mercury, air toxics rule
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/trump-epa-coal-power-plant-mats-mercury-exemptions/745482/
Many of the coal plants exempted are upwind of NJ and impact NJ. The greenhouse gas emissions from those plants accelerates and magnifies the climate emergency and warming impacts and risks to NJ.
The Department has long been involved in the public health science of mercury and in adopting stringent mercury emissions standards. Similarly, the Department has participated in analyzing the interstate air quality impacts of long range pollutant transport from coal power plants, particularly with respect to ozone non-attainment.
The exemptions issued by President Trump will cause additional mercury poisoning of NJ's environment, exacerbate NJ's non-compliance status, and increase public health risks from mercury and other pollutants emitted by coal power plants. The science is very clear on these impacts.
The Trump Proclamation falsely claimed that "The technology to implement the Rule is not available."
The EPA provided no factual or scientific basis to support the exemptions. The White House provided no evidence to support their exemptions.
There was no public participation in the exemption process.
This is an outrageous and arbitrary abuse of power and a violation of the Clean Air Act.
I urge you to work with Attorney General Platkin to file a lawsuit to block these exemptions.
I again urge you to work with Chairman Smith to develop a coordinated Legislative and regulatory strategy to minimize the damage of the Trump regime's efforts to "dismantle the administrative state" and implement Trump's Executive Orders.
Bill Wolfe
California doesn't have any coal plants within its borders, but several CA public utilities own portions of out-of-state coal power plants...So we outsource our pollution. Greenwashing, anyone?
https://ww2.kqed.org/climatewatch/2011/10/19/californias-dirty-secret-the-five-coal-plants-supplying-our-electricity/