The Trump administration plans to roll back EPA limits on mercury and other hazardous air pollutants from coal-fired power plants, saying the change will lower costs for utilities and help meet growing electricity demand from AI-related data centers. Environmental and public-health groups warn the rollback risks increased exposure to neurotoxins such as mercury, especially for infants and other vulnerable groups. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards would have cut mercury emissions by about 70% and, according to the Environmental Defense Fund, saved an estimated $420 million in health costs through 2037.
Trump EPA to Roll Back Mercury and Air-Toxics Limits on Coal Plants, Sparking Health Warnings
FILE PHOTO: Fisk Coal Station’s dormant smokestack is visible from Dvorak Park in Pilsen, a predominantly Mexican community in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., November 17, 2025, in this screengrab from video. REUTERS/Eric Cox/File Photo
The Trump administration announced a plan to relax Environmental Protection Agency limits on mercury and other hazardous air pollutants from coal-fired power plants, saying the move will lower costs for utilities and help meet rising electricity demand driven by data centers and artificial intelligence applications. Public health groups and environmental advocates say the rollback will put the most vulnerable communities at greater risk.
What the Change Would Do
The proposal would ease enforcement of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), a regulatory framework that traces back to standards established in 2012 and was later updated during the Biden administration. The EPA argues the existing 2012 rule already provides an ample margin of safety and that the agency’s new changes would reduce compliance costs that the agency believes outweigh additional benefits.
Public-Health Concerns
Environmental and public-health groups contend the move threatens communities exposed to coal-plant pollution. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can impair fetal and infant brain development, and coal plants are also major sources of lead, arsenic, nickel, benzene, formaldehyde, dioxins and other hazardous air pollutants. The Environmental Defense Fund estimates the MATS regime would cut allowable mercury emissions from coal plants by about 70% and reduce other toxic metals by roughly two-thirds, producing roughly $420 million in public-health cost savings through 2037.
EPA statement (summary): The 2012 MATS rule provides an ample margin of safety to protect public health, and some proposed 2024 additions would impose costs that exceed their benefits.
Context And Recent Actions
The administration has taken a series of steps to support coal-fired generation. Last year the president declared an "energy emergency," invited coal plants to request two-year exemptions from MATS by email, and granted such waivers to 68 units. The EPA also announced it was repealing the so-called "endangerment finding" that underpinned its authority to regulate greenhouse gases, and the White House directed the Pentagon to procure power from coal-fired plants for certain military needs.
Utilities have been retiring aging coal generators in recent years, in part because natural gas and renewables have become more economical and because coal plants are significant sources of both mercury and carbon pollution. Coal nonetheless still supplies under 20% of U.S. electricity generation, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Why This Matters
The debate highlights a recurring trade-off in energy and environmental policy: efforts to reduce regulatory costs and support grid reliability versus the long-term health and economic burdens borne by communities exposed to hazardous emissions. The proposal is likely to face legal and political challenges from states, environmental groups and public-health advocates.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
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