EDF Experts Urge Trump EPA to Protect Public Health from Mercury, Toxic Air Pollution

(Washington, D.C. July 11, 2025) Three experts from Environmental Defense Fund joined a packed public hearing and urged the Trump EPA to drop a plan that would put Americans at more risk from mercury and other toxic air pollution. 

“The American public deserves to have air, water, and food that is clean and free of harmful mercury contamination,” said EDF Senior Attorney Surbhi Sarang in her testimony. “EDF asks that EPA immediately withdraw its proposal to undo last year’s updates to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.”

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards were first adopted more than a decade ago to reduce particularly dangerous types of pollution emitted by coal-fired power plants – including mercury, arsenic, chromium, and nickel – that can cause brain damage in babies, cancer, and heart and lung diseases. 

Last year, EPA updated the standards to strengthen protections against cancer-causing toxics, provide for more rigorous and transparent monitoring of power plant pollution, and close a loophole that allowed power plants that burned one type of especially dirty coal – lignite coal – to emit three times more mercury than other plants. Then last month EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced a proposal to undo those updates. 

Yesterday EPA held its one and only hearing on the rollback proposal. The hearing lasted more than 11 hours and stretched well into the evening. Dozens of people testified about the damage a rollback would cause, including EDF Legal Intern Rachel Swanteson-Franz.

“I am testifying today to highlight the serious health impacts from the pollutants regulated under the MATS program, specifically to my home state of New Mexico,” said Swanteson-Franz in her testimony. “This proposed repeal would set us back 13 years. That is 13 years of advances in science and technology that have shown how technically and economically feasible it is to reduce these emissions. This repeal would have long-term negative health impacts on communities across the country, but especially for New Mexico communities where the cumulative health impacts of legacy pollution are high.”

EDF’s experts stressed that the update Zeldin is trying to repeal calls for modest and common-sense improvements.

“Stronger standards to alleviate these compelling health risks are highly feasible, given the significant advances in control technologies over the last decade,” said EDF attorney Richard Yates in his testimony. Yates also pointed out that 93% of U.S. coal plants are already meeting the strengthened pollution limits for arsenic, lead and other toxics, “showing that a protective standard is eminently achievable.”

“The rule requires the dirtiest remaining coal plants still lagging behind to reduce toxic metals in line with what can be achieved through widely-available pollution control technologies and techniques, ensuring that all communities are protected from this dangerous pollution,” added Sarang.

EDF also called on EPA to extend its comment deadline and hold additional public hearings so all concerned Americans can weigh in.

Read Sarang’s full testimony here
Read Swanteson-Franz’s full testimony here
Read Yates’s full testimony here