EPA Proposes Rule Change That Would Let Power Plants Release More Toxic Pollution (npr.org)

The Trump administration announced on Friday a plan designed to make it easier for coal-fired power plants, after nearly a decade of restrictions, to release into the atmosphere more mercury and other pollutants linked to developmental disorders and respiratory illnesses [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source]. From a report: The limits on mercury, set in 2011, were the first federal standards to restrict some of the most hazardous pollutants emitted by coal plants and were considered one of former President Barack Obama's signature environmental achievements. Since then, scientists have said, mercury pollution from power plants has declined more than 80 percent nationwide. President Trump's new proposal does not repeal the regulation, known as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, but it would lay the groundwork for doing so by weakening a key legal justification for the measure. The long-term impact would be significant: It would weaken the ability of the E.P.A. to impose new regulations in the future by adjusting the way the agency measures the benefits of curbing pollutants, giving less weight to the potential health gains.

In announcing the proposed rule, the Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement that the cost of cutting mercury from power plants "dwarfs" the monetary benefits. The proposal, which the acting E.P.A. administrator, Andrew Wheeler, signed on Thursday, is expected to appear in the federal register in the coming weeks. The public will have 60 days to comment on it before a final rule is issued. [...] Reworking the mercury rule, which the E.P.A. considers the priciest clean air regulation ever put forth in terms of annual cost to industry, would represent a victory for the coal industry, and in particular for Robert E. Murray, an important former client of Mr. Wheeler's from his days as a lobbyist.

Comments

This whole administration

[fredrated]

is mentally ill.

Re:This whole administration

[Anonymous Coward]

is mentally ill.

That is the point. Mercury is a neurotoxin. It makes you dumb. By loosening the standard, this will make people in critical swing states that have a lot of coal mining, such as Pennsylvania, dumber and more like to vote for Trump in 2020.

Trump won Pennsylvania by less than 1% in 2016. Obama carried it by 5.4% in 2012.

Republicans have been pushing anti-intellectualism for a long time. I would not be remotely surprised if various republican operatives are okay with dumbing down their population. They certainly are okay with lying about everything and destroying the credibility of the fourth estate if it helps them. What makes this basically treasonous, is they know making the population easier to manipulate means that any sufficiently powerful group can manipulate them. They are perfectly happy to promote this.

In short they promote a stronger military (as if we needed a stronger military), but fail to defend where we truly are weak, and that is holding up standards of truth, honor, and decency. They push propaganda, rather than fighting against it, and tell people the propaganda is truth and the truth is propaganda. If that is not actual Evil, then I'm not sure what Evil is. The ends don't justify the means. They never did.

Re:This whole administration

[fahrbot-bot]

they're not mentally ill.

they are just EVIL AS CAN BE.

Now, now. Be fair. They can be both.

Re:This whole administration

[MightyMartian]

Trump won by margins of error. Quit talking like it was some tremendous victory

Does it?

[alvinrod]

I'm all for cutting down on pollution, but is the headline actually correct? The summary seems to imply that it isn't:

President Trump's new proposal does not repeal the regulation, known as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, but it would lay the groundwork for doing so by weakening a key legal justification for the measure. The long-term impact would be significant: It would weaken the ability of the E.P.A. to impose new regulations in the future by adjusting the way the agency measures the benefits of curbing pollutants, giving less weight to the potential health gains.

Either the headline is incorrect or the summary is wrong. Either way, once again I'll simply suggest that this is a good reason why bureaucracy shouldn't govern and that Congress should ultimately put forth all laws. Anything less is ultimately too susceptible to change and puts far too much power into the hands of the administration. We did away with kings for a reason.

Reading comprehension

[Luckyo]

Topic: Rule change that would let power plants release more toxic pollution.

Content: Rule change that doesn't let power plants release any more toxic pollution.

Comments: Trump is letting plants release more toxic pollution.

TDS in action.

Oh, one more thing

[rsilvergun]

I notice we're all quibbling on the headline instead of discussion the fact that this administration would like very much to increase the amount of mercury in the air.

Article says it's down 80% since the rule went into place, and I'll remind you that there is no safe level of mercury exposure. It builds up over time. Buddy of mine found that out the hard way getting mercury poisoning from tuna...

Once again, we've got our priorities ass backwards.

Re:Given the shear complexity of things

[whoever57]

The solution to long lines at the DMV is not "more clerks". It is to move most of the services to a website so there is less need to go to the DMV in the first place.

Hah, hah. Very funny. Here is CA, the long lines at the DMV are due to Federal "Real-ID" requirements, which do require that you actually interact, face-to-face with a real clerk. You can do most other transactions online. If you don't want a Real-ID compliant driver license, you don't typically need to go in to renew your license.