The war on the environment

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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has gutted an Obama administration regulation requiring coal plants to cut their emissions of mercury and other pollutants that carry significant risks to human health. The EPA, currently headed up by former coal industry lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, argues the mercury cleanup requirement was not “appropriate and necessary” – a legal benchmark under the country’s landmark Clean Air Act. Characterising the regulation as government overreach, Mr Wheeler said the latest move better balanced the cost to utilities against public safety.

Trump administration scraps mercury emissions rule as rollback of Obama-era regulations continues | The Independent