EPA gutting rule credited with coal-plant toxic air cleanup
Move limits future regulation of air pollutants by plants
By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, Associated Press
Published: April 16, 2020, 4:30pm
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FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2018, file photo, a coal-fired plant in Winfield, W.Va, is seen from an apartment complex in the town of Poca across the Kanawha River. The Trump administration is gutting an Obama-era rule that compelled coal plants to cut back emissions of mercury and other human health hazards, limiting future regulation of air pollutants by petroleum and coal plants. (AP Photo/John Raby, File)Photo Gallery
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is gutting an Obama-era rule that compelled coal plants to cut back emissions of mercury and other human health hazards, limiting future regulation of air pollutants by petroleum and coal plants.
Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist whose clients have gotten many of the regulatory rollbacks they asked for from the Trump administration, was set to announce the final version of the weakened rule later Thursday.
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