Lee Zeldin Intends to Allow More Heavy Metals in Our Waterways

Washington, D.C. - Today, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the agency’s intention to gut the Effluent Limitation Guidelines. These guardrails were recently updated in 2024 to further protect communities from heavy metal water pollution—including mercury, arsenic, and lead—from coal-burning power plants. 

According to the Sierra Club’s Trump Coal Pollution Dashboard, rolling back these guidelines would allow coal plants to release an estimated 325,000 additional tons of toxic pollution into rivers and streams each year. Exposure to these toxins is linked to increased risk of liver and kidney damage, cardiovascular illnesses, cancers, and developmental delays in children. 

In response, Sierra Club Climate Policy Director Patrick Drupp issued the following statement: 

“Lee Zeldin’s proposal to allow coal companies to dump more heavy metals into our waterways defies all common sense. Zeldin has made it abundantly clear that he is willing to sacrifice just about anything—including our health and our futures—for the profit of the fossil fuel industry.

“This administration's obsession with resurrecting coal in our country is despicable and Americans ought to be disgusted by their flagrant disregard for public health and the environment. The United States has been phasing out coal for decades because coal is expensive and deadly, and we will not go back. We will stand up for our communities and push back against this dangerous attempt to roll back lifesaving measures.”