Regulation Doesn’t Always Mean Over-Regulation
But That Doesn’t Seem To Register With The Trump Administration, Especially When It Comes To The Environment
The Trump Administration tried to sneak this by over the holiday weekend: a rollback on regulations on coal powered plants that release mercury and a range of toxic chemicals into the air as a by-product of what they do. The change proposed by acting EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler, a former lobbyist for the coal industry, says current rules aren’t cost-effective or even “necessary”. The new policy won’t go into effect right away, but could within a month or two. This is mainly to the benefit of the coal mining industry, and coal fired power plants, many of which have been shutting down for a lot of reasons. Now maybe they won’t.
Mercury, in particular, is known to cause horrifying and profound birth defects and severe health problems in adults, especially if it works its way into public waterways.
Still, given the amount of dismantling of government rules the Trump administration is doing, especially with the EPA, we understand if your takeaway is: “what else is new”?
Here’s what else:
- This action actually rewards bad actors, and punishes companies that dutifully complied with the…