Unraveling Trump’s Toxic Agenda

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/donald-trump-environmenal-agenda-738964/?fbclid=IwAR3lPSEn6Dx0CJcM0OTs4L7emLYBrlDcWrokhN4rSaCTvOMxWvBr2LBR7rw
"The Trump administration is reconsidering a 2011 pollution control on mercury and other toxins emitted from coal plants. Mercury is particularly dangerous for pregnant women and can damage fetal brain health. The regulation has successfully reduced emissions of the pollutant by 70 percent, and it could prevent as many as 11,000 premature deaths from heart and lung disease annually. Meanwhile, the EPA has already weakened enforcement: EPA assistant administrator Bill Wehrum — a longtime lawyer for chemical and oil companies — issued a guidance making it easier for plants to turn off their pollution controls, which, according to one study, could more than quadruple the output of toxins and disproportionately impact the poor. “That’s true of most Trump rollbacks,” says Gallagher, “because they favor heavy industries,” which are closer to disadvantaged communities. Polluting Waterways When mountaintops are blown up to mine coal, the debris that falls into the valleys below is laden with toxic heavy metals like arsenic and lead, which seep into streams. One of Trump’s first actions in office was to sign the repeal of a law that held coal-mining companies accountable for the polluted waterways. The toxins are being tied to learning disabilities, kidney stones, tooth loss, cancer and, according to one lawsuit, “unremitting diarrhea.” The health impacts are woefully understudied, however, and likely to remain that way: The administration also canceled funding for a major study on the health risks of mountaintop-removal mining. In another giveaway to coal, the administration weakened already modest standards for coal-ash disposal from power plants. “The ash has arsenic and other toxins, and is often stored in unlined pits that can leak in surface water and groundwater, and in fact do,” says water-policy expert Jon Devine of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Some of these are heavy metals that can cause cancer, result in lowered IQ in children, deformities, harm to fish and wildlife — nasty stuff"."