Trump Exempted Some of the Nation’s Biggest Polluters From Air Quality Rules. All It Took Was an Email.
The Trump administration granted over 180 polluting facilities a two-year exemption from Clean Air Act rules via email requests, bypassing EPA scientists and public health protections. Companies like Scrubgrass Reclamation, Citgo Petroleum, and Sterigenics received approvals for coal plants, refineries, and ethylene oxide emitters, despite prior violations and health risks to nearby communities.
The Trump administration in March 2025 allowed major industrial facilities to bypass Clean Air Act rules by submitting an email request to an EPA inbox. Over 180 facilities, including coal plants and chemical manufacturers, received two-year exemptions without rigorous review or input from EPA scientists. An EPA email system processed requests from companies like Scrubgrass Reclamation, which operates a Pennsylvania coal waste plant supplying electricity for bitcoin mining. The company’s exemption was approved in a presidential proclamation 11 days after the request. Citgo Petroleum also secured exemptions for refineries in Illinois, Louisiana, and Texas, despite prior Clean Air Act violations and health risks to nearby communities. Sterigenics, a medical sterilizer company, requested exemptions for nine ethylene oxide-emitting facilities near Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Charlotte, and Atlanta. Over 45,000 people, predominantly non-white, live within a mile of these sites, according to federal data. All requests were approved in July proclamations. The White House cited a rarely used Clean Air Act provision to grant exemptions, bypassing EPA scientific review. ProPublica obtained 3,000 pages of emails showing the process, which the EPA called its 'biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history.' Companies did not respond to requests for comment.
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