Trump administration eases Obama-era rules on coal pollution

(J. David Ake | AP file photo) The Dave Johnson coal-fired power plant is silhouetted against the morning sun in Glenrock, Wyo., on July 27, 2018. The Trump administration is proposing easing more Obama-era protections on contaminants from coal-fired power plants. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Andrew Wheeler signed a proposal Monday overhauling a 2015 rule on release of contaminated wastewater from power plants. The EPA says the change will save $175 million annually in compliance costs. Washington • The Trump administration accelerated the pace of its environmental rollbacks for the country’s coal-fired power plants Monday, proposing to weaken two Obama-era rules aimed at cleaning up dangerous heavy metals and ash from coal plants and keeping them from washing into groundwater and waterways.

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