The Trump Administration Has Invited Power Plants to Emit More Toxic Pollution in a Giveaway to Corporate Polluters

On March 27, 2025, The New York Times reported that the Trump administration has invited coal- and oil-fired power plants and other sources of toxic air pollution to send an email requesting exemptions from clean air regulations. On a dedicated webpage, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wrote that it had “set up an electronic mailbox to allow the regulated community to request a presidential exemption under section 112(i)(4) of the Clean Air Act” by March 31, 2025. Already, the nation’s most-polluting coal-burning power plant is known to have made a request.

Section 112(i)(4) is a little-known provision that allows the president to exempt entities from Clean Air Act emissions standards if a) the technology required to meet current emissions standards is not available and b) an exemption is in the national security interest of the United States. These requirements cannot be met by existing facilities, and in any case, the administration has provided insufficient time or process to prove they are fulfilled. Though President Donald Trump has promised to deliver the “cleanest air and water,” this new action demonstrates his administration’s true goal of prioritizing corporate polluters over Americans and their health.

Threatening Americans’ health from increased dangerous pollution

Pollution standards for coal- and oil-fired power plants and industrial facilities are required by the Clean Air Act. These facilities emit mercury as well as a host of other air pollutants, such as arsenic, nickel, lead, selenium, cadmium, chromium, and cobalt, all of which are damaging to human health. Mercury is a bioaccumulative toxin linked to neurological disorders, developmental disorders, and heart conditions, while arsenic, chromium, and nickel are all classified as human carcinogens—and cadmium, selenium, and lead are classified as probable human carcinogens. Coal- and oil-fired power plants are regulated because of the severe, life-altering impacts of this kind of pollution on surrounding communities.

Yet on March 12, the EPA did not merely inform entities that are likely sources of toxic pollutants of their ability to request an exemption from public health standards that protect the public from this pollution; it, in the agency’s own words, “requested that facilities and/or affected sources subject to the regulations below submit information about why their facility and/or affected source meets the requirements under Clean Air Act Section 112(i)(4) for a Presidential Exemption.” In fact, the EPA went so far as to provide an email template for entities to use. This is an agency tasked with protecting public and environmental health; actively inviting polluters to exploit the law and further pollute the air and water is contrary to that founding mission as well as the general interests of Americans.

Emissions standards for coal- and oil-fired power plants are also neither new nor unachievable. The EPA’s 2024 mercury and air toxics standards for coal- and oil-fired power plants—those from which entities would be asking for a presidential exemption—only set mercury emissions standards for lignite coal-fired power plants equivalent to those that other types of coal-burning power plants have already achieved. These standards also set non-mercury hazardous air pollutant limits already achieved by 93 percent of coal-fired power plants that don’t plan to retire before the compliance deadline. The technology to reduce emissions of toxic air pollutants demonstrably exists; the Trump administration is simply letting corporate polluters avoid installing it at the expense of Americans’ health.

Encouraging pollution without accountability

Unless Congress acts, there will be no transparency into which facilities have been granted exemptions, meaning nearby communities will not know when a neighboring facility is exceeding pollution standards. A host of federal regulations enable relevant parties to submit requests to the regulating agency for various regulatory flexibilities. In most cases, these requests are published in the Federal Register, a running list of almost all agency actions and documents that is freely available to the public. Section 112(i)(4), however, does not appear to require any such notice. Instead, it only requires that the president “report to Congress with respect to each exemption (or extension thereof).”

Many laws require the president, through the various executive agencies, to report activities to Congress, and generally, these reports must be made public under the Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act. However, in many cases, these laws require the reports to be made within a time frame specified by the relevant statute. This ensures that administrations cannot slow-walk notifying Congress of their activities. Section 112(i)(4), on the other hand, does not specify a deadline for reporting, meaning that unless members of Congress are vigilant—demanding from the EPA timely reports regarding exemptions made—there would be little transparency or accountability regarding increases in toxic air pollution across the country. The only indicator that Americans living near coal power plants, iron smelters, and other industrial facilities will have could be their own worsening health.

It is critical that, at the very least, members of Congress demand that the administration notify them immediately upon the issuance of any exemption under Section 112(i)(4). Matters affecting public health should not be resolved solely via email between the executive branch and private corporations.

Launching a broader attack on air pollution awareness

The Trump administration’s invitation comes at the same time it has moved to dismantle air and water quality standards and monitoring. Immediately upon taking office President Trump—likely illegally—paused all pending grants for Inflation Reduction Act programs that provide funding for air quality sensors, multipollutant monitoring, and air quality monitoring at schools, all of which help communities have essential information to take action when air quality is dangerous.

On February 27, 2025, the administration also announced that it aimed to cut the EPA’s budget by 65 percent, gutting the resources needed to enforce pollution laws. Then, on March 14, the administration reportedly proposed firing 75 percent of the agency’s research and development office, limiting the independent research needed to identify the health impacts of pollutants and contaminants. And as of March 8, 2025, the administration had reportedly proposed cutting 20 percent of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) staff, who provide meteorological data and air dispersion information necessary for determining where pollution spreads.

Taken together, these actions—combined with the rollback of other clean air regulations—will render the American public susceptible to higher rates of asthma, cancer, brain damage, and heart attacks while being largely unaware of the causes of their worsened health: namely, corporate polluters degrading the air we breathe and water we drink. The Trump administration’s corrupt actions show their willingness to feed corporate greed at the expense of American families’ health.

Conclusion

The Trump administration’s actions to exempt polluters from compliance with air pollution standards are unjustified; these free passes to pollute should not occur at all, and certainly not in the dark. Members of Congress must ensure that the administration provides timely and detailed reports regarding exemptions granted under Section 112(i)(4), including all publicly disclosable information submitted by companies via email to the EPA. Furthermore, states must exercise their own standard-setting and permitting powers to ensure that sources of pollution within their borders continue to meet the highest of public health standards while also investing in local air quality monitoring.