BAD DAY FOR THE PLANET

Trump to Make It Easier for Coal-Burning Plants to Pollute

The EPA will scale back Obama-era rules that govern how power plants store waste from burning coal.

The Environmental Protection Agency will relax Obama-era rules that govern the storage of coal waste effective Monday. The Washington Post reports that the rules adopted in 2015 encompass the treatment of a fine powder and sludge called “coal ash” that is produced at coal-burning plants. The new rules under the Trump administration will make it easier to dispose of these materials in addition to contaminated water. The waste often has trace elements of mercury, arsenic, and other heavy metals. The new rules mean that coal ash stored in open waste ponds can now be kept an additional eight years, and coal-burning companies could use a filtration on contaminated wastewater on a voluntary basis.