The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized its repeal of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, or MATS. Originally passed in 2024, the policy would have required power plants to install filtration systems to reduce emissions of pollutants like mercury, arsenic and lead.
The Trump administration said the move will save utility companies money. But health professionals say the costs far outweigh any savings.
Rob Byron is a doctor with Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate.
"Failure to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants results in increased particulate matter and other air pollution that puts people at higher risk to have more heart attacks, more strokes, and particularly, concerns about people who have asthma or other lung diseases," he says.
Byron says this policy change will result in needless deaths from preventable causes.
Many coal plants already meet the standards EPA is now rescinding. Montana’s largest coal-fired power plant, Colstrip does not. Colstrip is the highest emitter of these air toxins in the country. The Northern Cheyenne Tribe, whose reservation sits downwind of Colstrip, strongly supported the 2024 regulations.
Nick Morales, an attorney with the environmental law firm EarthJustice says downwind communities will suffer the most harm without filtration systems in place.
"Weakening clean air rules for the benefit of polluters doesn't make us more energy independent, it just makes people sick," Morales says.
This rollback is the latest in the EPA’s ongoing environmental deregulation under President Trump, and it is likely to draw legal challenges. Morales says EarthJustice isn’t afraid to see the government in court.
