These Companies Avoided Clean-Air Rules. It Took a Single Email.

Click bait sucks, but just complaining about it doesn't do anything to help anyone, we can all (presumably) read the headline and see what you're seeing
I think it would have been really hard to get all the nuance here down to a single headline sentence,

...representatives of at least 15 coal-burning power plants, four steel mills, four chemical facilities and two mines wrote emails to the E.P.A. this spring, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.
All 15 coal plants were ultimately exempted from requirements to curb several hazardous air pollutants, including mercury, a neurotoxin that can cause developmental problems in infants and children. All four chemical facilities were exempted from restrictions on other harmful air pollutants, including ethylene oxide, a gas linked to several types of cancer.
Those email exemptions were part of a broader wave of more than 100 granted so far by the Trump administration to facilities across the country, including oil refineries and sites that process a type of iron ore. The exemptions apply to rules that were set to take effect in the coming years.

Some named companies here,

The Tennessee Valley Authority, the country’s largest federally owned utility, successfully sought two-year exemptions from the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for three coal plants in Tennessee and one coal plant in Kentucky, according to the documents obtained by the Sierra Club.

Alabama Power’s James H. Miller Jr. Electric Generating Plant in Jefferson, Ala., also successfully sought an exemption from the stricter mercury rule.

The documents also show that Eastman Chemical Company, a global chemical manufacturer, requested and received an exemption from the limits on ethylene oxide emissions for its facility in Longview, Texas.

U.S. Steel, which was acquired by Japan’s Nippon Steel last month, had mixed results in its quest for regulatory relief.

While the documents show that Citgo Petroleum Corporation and Phillips 66 requested exemptions for some oil refineries, they do not reveal the names of the facilities.

8 comments

- Clickbait usually refers to deceitful or misleading headlines. Were you mislead by this headline? How?
- Click bait sucks, but just complaining about it doesn't do anything to help anyone, we can all (presumably) read the headline and see what you're seeing
  I think it would have been really hard to get all the nuance here down to a single headline sentence,
  ...representatives of at least 15 coal-burning power plants, four steel mills, four chemical facilities and two mines wrote emails to the E.P.A. this spring, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.
  All 15 coal plants were ultimately exempted from requirements to curb several hazardous air pollutants, including mercury, a neurotoxin that can cause developmental problems in infants and children. All four chemical facilities were exempted from restrictions on other harmful air pollutants, including ethylene oxide, a gas linked to several types of cancer.
  Those email exemptions were part of a broader wave of more than 100 granted so far by the Trump administration to facilities across the country, including oil refineries and sites that process a type of iron ore. The exemptions apply to rules that were set to take effect in the coming years.
  Some named companies here,
  The Tennessee Valley Authority, the country’s largest federally owned utility, successfully sought two-year exemptions from the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for three coal plants in Tennessee and one coal plant in Kentucky, according to the documents obtained by the Sierra Club.
  Alabama Power’s James H. Miller Jr. Electric Generating Plant in Jefferson, Ala., also successfully sought an exemption from the stricter mercury rule.
  The documents also show that Eastman Chemical Company, a global chemical manufacturer, requested and received an exemption from the limits on ethylene oxide emissions for its facility in Longview, Texas.
  U.S. Steel, which was acquired by Japan’s Nippon Steel last month, had mixed results in its quest for regulatory relief.
  While the documents show that Citgo Petroleum Corporation and Phillips 66 requested exemptions for some oil refineries, they do not reveal the names of the facilities.
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