Uh oh...So many environmental regulations dealing with the environment are being overturned this year. In addition to changing the mission of the EPA (it's no longer to protect us and the environment, but instead to roll back regulations and costs - in other words, pro polluters and Big Business), the Senate is doing its bit to make our air and water dirtier.
The Senate voted last week to overturn EPA rules on 7 toxic air pollutants emitted by industry, with voting along party lines - Republicans voted to weaken regulations, and Democrats voted against it. These are horrible pollutants, including mercury, lead, dioxins.
The scientific names of the 7 pollutants are: mercury, alkylated lead compounds, hexachlorobenzene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), polycyclic organic matter (POM), 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzofurans (TCDF), and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin.
How can anyone rationalize weakening regulations on these toxic chemicals and think that allowing more to be released into the air as beneficial? These hazardous chemicals cause death, neurological problems, cancer, and so many more health problems.
This is a huge win for the chemical and fossil fuel industry, and a major loss for people (us!) and the environment.
It is expected that the House will also pass this bill. This will be the first time that the Congress weakens protections passed in the Clean Air Act. So... this will be their legacy - deliberately making our environment more polluted.
From Washington Post: Senate overturns EPA rule on seven highly toxic air pollutants
The EPA rule dictates that once a facility emits any of the seven toxic air pollutants at unsafe levels, it must always maintain strict pollution controls, even if its emissions later drop to safe levels. Inhaling even small amounts of these pollutants — including mercury, alkylated lead and dioxins — can cause cancer, brain damage and other serious health effects.
Environmentalists have strongly supported the regulation, saying it has protected public health in poor and minority communities that are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air. But business groups have criticized the rule, saying it has imposed burdensome requirements for companies to monitor, report and reduce their emissions.
According to an analysis by the environmental law firm Earthjustice, the regulation has compelled more than 1,800 facilities nationwide to curb their pollution.
“Repealing this rule would be such a giveaway to corporate polluters,” said Nathan Park, a legislative representative at Earthjustice. “These facilities could increase their toxic pollution without any accountability or oversight.”
Jo Banner, co-director and co-founder of the nonprofit Descendants Project, said scrapping the rule could particularly harm her community of St. John the Baptist Parish in Louisiana. The majority-Black parish lies in a stretch of Louisiana known as “Cancer Alley” because of the many industrial facilities there.
Across the Mississippi River from her neighborhood, Banner can sometimes see pollution billowing from an oil refinery and an aluminum plant. Four of her neighbors either are battling cancer or recently recovered from the disease. Though it is nearly impossible to prove the cause of these cases, a robust body of scientific evidence has linked air pollution to an increased risk of numerous types of cancer.
Business groups, however, have assailed the rule as burdensome. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), a trade group representing 14,000 companies across the country, has led the charge. In a letter sent to Trump one month after the 2024 election, the group included the rule in a list of regulations that it said were “strangling our economy” and should be reversed.