(Washington) The government of Joe Biden announced on Monday that it wanted to revive a regulation limiting the emissions of mercury and other toxic substances into the air by coal and fuel oil power plants, which had been weakened by the administration. of Donald Trump.
Posted at 6:57 p.m.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “proposes to reaffirm that it is appropriate and necessary to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants from coal and oil-fired power plants,” said a statement.
In May 2020, under the Trump administration, the term “appropriate and necessary” had been canceled, thus rendering obsolete the application of a regulation introduced in 2012 under Barack Obama – of which Joe Biden was the vice-president.
This regulation concerns in particular mercury, which is linked by scientists to repercussions on the nervous system, in particular that of children.
“Controlling these emissions improves public health for all Americans, by reducing deaths from cardiac arrest, cancer risk, or neurodevelopmental delays in children,” the EPA wrote in its statement.
Before coming into force, the agency’s proposal will be subject to a mandatory public debate period.
Current emissions standards will initially remain unchanged, but the agency is considering making them “stricter”, she said.
This announcement comes at a time when the US President’s environmental plan is blocked in Congress, despite months of negotiations aimed at convincing the most moderate fringe of the Democratic Party.
The Biden administration is therefore going through the regulatory route to try to weigh in on this subject.
Energy performance of cars, mining project, protection of endangered species… Since coming to power, the Biden government has questioned many directives of the previous government relating to the environment.
” Good news ! The EPA is fixing another Trump-era problem,” the NGO Environmental Defense Fund reacted on Twitter.
The Trump government’s decision was “based on manipulating science to favor polluters,” said Julie McNamara, climate and energy manager of the NGO Union of Concerned Scientists.
But “while the proposal made today is vital, it is only a start”, she added. “We strongly support the fact that the EPA not only maintains, but also strengthens these rules. »