By Nate Reagle, Clean Energy Program Advocate, Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter
Introduction
On April 8, 2025, three Presidential executive orders and one proclamation designed to benefit the coal industry were announced. The executive orders are: “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry.” “Strengthening the Reliability and Security of the United States Electric Grid,” and “Protecting American Energy from State Overreach”. The proclamation is entitled “Regulatory Relief for Certain Stationary Sources to Promote American Energy.” This proclamation will be the focus of this article.
Under the Obama administration, the Environmental Protection Agency implemented the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule under the Clean Air Act. Mercury, a potent neurotoxin, is particularly harmful to children and developing fetuses. Coal burning was the main pathway of mercury into our ecosystems and food chains. Between 2010 and 2020, total mercury pollution from power plants declined by 91% as a direct result of the MATS rule. Coal-fired power plants are still the largest source of mercury pollution. On May 7, 2024, the Biden administration amended and strengthened the MATS rule to address some areas where mercury emissions and metal-containing particulate matter could be further reduced, particularly for lignite coal. Lignite coal is often thought of as the least desirable coal and the dirtiest. The amended MATS rule also relied on existing emissions-control measures. One highlight of the amended MATS rule is the inclusion of continuous monitoring for particulate matter. This practice can effectively catch problems in real time rather than waiting for an annual test, and allow power plants to fix the issue.
The Proclamation
Under the Clean Air Act, the president can, under rare and specific circumstances, provide to certain sources a two-year exemption from rules, like MATS, designed to control toxic air pollution. As per the statute, the exemptions are available if the “technology to implement such standard is not available,” and if the exemption is in the interest of national security. By contrast, the “Regulatory Relief for Certain Stationary Sources to Promote American Energy” proclamation, applying a blanket exemption from the 2024 MATS revision for over 60 different coal plants, was founded on subjective and unverifiable claims. The proclamation claims that MATS emissions controls are unavailable, despite the majority of coal plants already having the controls installed.
The proclamation also claims that our national security is dependent on coal-fired power plants, despite the long list of other solutions to a secure grid that maintains human health and safety.
The Impacts
There are a few power plants, mostly in Texas and North Dakota, that burn dirty lignite coal. These plants emit up to 10 times the toxic mercury pollution as non-lignite burning coal plants. The amended MATS rule subjected them to standards similar to non-lignite burning coal plants, as well as the installation of continuous monitoring equipment to detect spikes in particulate matter.
With the proclamation, about 68 coal plants nationwide, and all the remaining coal plants in Pennsylvania, will have at least an additional two years to comply. The coal plants also might not have to install the continuous monitoring equipment. With this proclamation, further improvements to air quality are effectively stopped.
Pennsylvania has 12 coal-fired power plants, 10 of which burn waste coal or coal refuse. Only two plants burn original source, higher quality coal, i.e., Keystone and Conemaugh. Each of those two plants provides about 1700 MW. Waste coal is particularly problematic since it has many impurities, resulting in potentially increased emissions of pollution such as particulate matter. The same impurities and presence of non-combustible material result in less efficient electricity production than plants that don’t use waste coal. This makes electricity production only economically viable with incentives. With the proclamation, the waste-coal plants that have struggled to consistently comply with the MATS rule will not be held accountable through the continuous emissions monitoring systems.
Keystone and Conemaugh already have all the required emissions-control equipment to continue compliance. But they lack continuous emissions monitoring systems for particulate matter. This adds the risk of periodic spikes in emissions not being detected and the source of an issue not being addressed.
Air quality in Pennsylvania is dependent on the air quality upwind. With airborne mercury being highly mobile for thousands of miles, Pennsylvania air quality may suffer from a few coal-fired power plants that don’t have to comply with the amended MATS rule as a result of the proclamation.
Aftermath
As noted above, the purpose of the Clean Air Act exemption provision is for the President to have the option of allowing coal-fired power plants to operate in non-compliance only if the technology required for compliance is not available and if it is in the interest of national security.
But here, the technology for compliance exists. Costs that may be associated with the technology are the costs of protecting human health and safety. Just as there is a cost for the coal itself, a cost for plant maintenance, and a cost to operate the plant, there is a cost to protect our health. The question isn’t whether the technology exists; it is a question of where we place our values.
Renewable energy sources that don’t emit neurotoxins into the air don’t require these technologies and don’t have the associated costs. This leads to the overlap of a reliable grid and human health, and the many solutions that exist. Improving energy efficiency, increasing renewable energy development, incorporating battery storage, and implementing transmission grid upgrades can all contribute to an efficient, reliable grid while maintaining human health and safety.
The answer to a reliable grid and human health is not more coal. Rather, the answer is to allow the backlog of renewable energy and energy storage projects waiting for development to move forward.
This blog was included as part of the May 2025 Sylvanian newsletter. Please click here to check out more articles from this edition!