Christine Ho, christine.ho@sierraclub.org
Washington, D.C. - In a letter made public today, ten energy companies are asking Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency to roll back lifesaving climate protections and lower standards for toxic pollution from power plants.
The companies have asked the EPA to rescind updated safeguards for greenhouse gas emissions, a rule that the same fossil fuel companies sought and failed to pause. The letter also asked the EPA to relieve energy corporations from their obligations to clean up coal ash pollution caused by their operations. The toxic heavy metals and other pollutants found in coal ash are linked to cancer, heart and thyroid disease, reproductive failure, and can inflict permanent brain damage on children.
The companies who signed onto the letter are Duke Energy, Vistra, Southern Illinois Power Cooperative, Ohio Valley/Indiana-Kentucky Electric Corp., Talen Energy, Louisville Gas & Electric/Kentucky Utilities, Gavin Power LLC, City Utilities of Springfield, Missouri, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, and the Lower Colorado River Authority.
In response, Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign Director Laurie Williams issued the following statement:
“It is despicable that these energy companies would so blatantly ask permission to release more deadly toxins into our water and abdicate responsibility for climate change, knowing it would endanger hundreds of millions of Americans across the country.
“Donald Trump does not have a mandate to give polluters a free pass to dump toxins into our water and damage our climate. The courts made clear under the last Trump administration: Trump and his cabinet don’t get to circumvent our bedrock environmental laws.
“If Donald Trump’s EPA gives in to these polluters’ requests, they will be the reason why children will suffer more asthma attacks, why more people will lose loved ones to preventable illnesses, and why our communities will see even more extreme weather fueled by climate change. The EPA and these energy companies will have to answer for their reckless actions that endanger public health and our communities.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.