Trump grants pollution rule waivers to plants citing security needs

 By Ari Natter

 

President Donald Trump is allowing chemical makers, coal-fired power plants and other facilities to bypass a range of environmental regulations on grounds that the waivers are needed for national security purposes.  

The plants, which also include taconite iron ore processing operations and chemical manufacturing facilities that play a role in the production of semiconductors and energy, were granted two-year waivers from Environmental Protection Agency rules via proclamations signed by Trump and released on Thursday evening. The rules were finalized under the Biden administration. 

“The exemptions ensure that these facilities within these critical industries can continue to operate uninterrupted to support national security without incurring substantial costs to comply with, in some cases, unattainable compliance requirements,” the White House said in a statement.  

Environmental groups slammed the move, with the Natural Resources Defense Council characterizing it as a “literal free pass for polluters.” 

“If your family lives downwind of these plants, this is going to mean more toxic chemicals in the air you breathe,” said John Walke, a senior attorney with the group said. “All the claims of technology problems and national security concerns are pretexts so a few big corporations can get richer.” 

Among the exempted operations were taconite iron ore plants in Minnesota owned by the United States Steel Corp. and six facilities owned by Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. in Minnesota and Michigan, according to the White House, which said the steel was used in national defense systems and other critical infrastructure.  

Chemical makers, including Dow Inc. and BASF SE, and refiners such as Phillips 66 and Citgo Petroleum Corp., were granted waivers from EPA regulations requiring emissions controls for certain facilities, according to the White House, which said the requirements would have required massive capital investments or even forced the plants to shut down. 

The White House also said coal-fired power plants in Ohio, Illinois and Colorado had been exempted from stringent air pollution mandates limiting the emission of mercury and other toxins. Several commercial medical device sterilization facilities were exempted from EPA rules setting emission standards for ethylene oxide, a widely used chemical in the sterilization process, the White House said. 

The Biden “emissions standards impose costly and, in some cases, unattainable compliance requirements on these industries essential to national interests,” according to a White House fact sheet. 

The waivers follow guidance earlier this year by the EPA that said companies could ask for exemptions to a range of regulations for as long as two years.