The Trump administration just rolled back stricter pollution rules on mercury and other toxic metals coming from coal-fired power plants. The move will save power companies hundreds of millions of dollars in compliance costs, but it also means more of these harmful pollutants could end up in the air.

In 2024, the Biden administration tightened the rules on what coal plants could emit. The Trump EPA just reversed those tighter standards, sending power plants back to the earlier rules from 2012. The EPA estimates this rollback will save about $670 million in compliance costs and shouldn't change your electricity bill.

The original 2012 rules which are still in place have actually worked pretty well. Mercury emissions from coal plants dropped about 90% between the pre-2012 era and 2021. Other toxic metals like nickel, arsenic, and lead fell by more than 81% since 2010.

The 2024 rules that just got repealed had tightened limits on hazardous metals from coal plants and beefed up mercury standards for plants burning lignite coal. They also required plants to continuously monitor their particulate matter emissions—basically, keeping closer tabs on what's going out the smokestack.

The EPA's own analysis admits that repealing these amendments will result in higher mercury and metal emissions than if the stricter 2024 rules had stayed in place. But the Trump administration argues those extra restrictions cost too much without enough health benefit, and that the 2012 standards are still protective enough.

Environmental groups and several states aren't fighting back. They've filed legal challenges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, arguing the rollback isn't justified.

Meanwhile, there's another pollution fight brewing: Congress and the administration are also wrestling with how to regulate "forever chemicals" called PFAS. Some lawmakers want stricter rules, while the EPA has proposed rolling back drinking-water standards for some of these chemicals—though it's keeping limits on two of the most common ones.

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