Senate Votes to Overturn Industrial Air Pollution Safeguards

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Today, the Senate voted 52-to-46 along party lines to pass a Congressional Review Act resolution seeking to dismantle critical protections under the Clean Air Act, which have limited toxic pollution and protected Americans’ health for decades.

“When you remove limits on pollution you get more of it," said Joanna Slaney, Environmental Defense Fund's Vice President for Political and Government Affairs. "Undoing these common-sense safeguards will mean more cancer, more brain development issues for young children, and more heart and lung problems for older people. This vote will result in a handout to thousands of polluters that won’t provide cleaner air for anyone.”

The 2024 rule closed a loophole from the first Trump administration by requiring all “major” sources of seven hazardous air pollutants to reduce their emissions by the maximum achievable amount, consistent with the requirements for these facilities for over two decades under the “Once In, Always In” policy.

Facilities that are “major” sources for hazardous pollutants must comply with protective pollution standards based on Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT). However, the MACT standards are so effective at reducing air pollution that they often cause industrial facilities to fall below the major source thresholds.

For decades, EPA policy required major industrial facilities to continue to comply with MACT standards as major sources. Then in 2018 the Trump administration undermined that policy and created a loophole that would allow many industrial and petrochemical sources to stop complying with MACT standards and ultimately increase their pollution. This loophole allows industrial facilities across the country to increase toxic air pollutants and avoid the vital Clean Air Act requirements that are designed to limit the most hazardous airborne contaminants.

The Biden EPA adopted standards to prevent industrial facilities that emit certain pollutants from increasing their pollution levels when reclassifying from a “major source” to an “area source.” Today’s vote aims to overturn those standards.