Trump Administration to Pollute Kentucky Air and Water with More Mercury, Arsenic, and Lead

LOUISVILLE, KY. - Today, at an event here in Louisville, Donald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency announced the dismantling of a bedrock environmental and public health standardthat protects Kentuckians, and all Americans, from mercury and other dangerous toxic air pollutants, such as arsenic, lead, and chromium.

Rolling back the new and more protective Mercury and Air Toxics Standards will allow coal and oil-fired power plants to emit more damaging pollution that puts the public at greater risk of heart and lung disease, cancer, and even premature death, as well as causing severe neurological damage to fetuses and children. In addition to polluting the air, mercury eventually settles in bodies of water, like rivers and streams, negatively affecting local water quality, contaminating local fish populations, and leading to even more negative health impacts.

According to the Sierra Club's Trump Coal Pollution Dashboard, reversing the 2024 improvements and reverting to the 2012 standards will allow the dirtiest coal-fired power plants to emit 50 percent more mercury pollution. As a result of reversing the 2024 standard, the D.B. Wilson Coal Plant near Centertown, Kentucky, would be allowed to emit roughly 50% more metallic toxics like arsenic and chromium.

In May 2025, the Trump administration exempted68 power plants-including some of the biggest polluters in the nation-from MATS after soliciting exemption requests from big polluters over email. The Sierra Club suedthe administration for these unlawful exemptions.

In response, Elisa Owen, Kentucky's Beyond Coal Campaign Senior Organizer, issued the following statement:

"Kentuckians deserve common sense pollution rules that protect our communities from dangerous and deadly toxins. Today's rollback, instead, puts Coal Barons first and people second, allowing coal companies to cut corners while public health suffers. By reverting back to safeguards from over a decade ago, the Trump administration is endangering our air and waterways, threatening the wellbeing of people going to work, walking the streets of their neighborhoods, or fishing in local lakes and streams. We are committed to fighting for greater accountability for coal corporations that expect to extract from and pollute our state without proper oversight."

Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign Director Laurie Williams added:

"Donald Trump's senseless decision to repeal the mercury standards is a direct attack on the health of Americans. For years, these lifesaving protections have slashed the amount of toxic pollution coal plants dump in our air and water, keeping millions of Americans safe from heart attacks, asthma and premature deaths, and protecting our babies from permanent neurological damage. Now, the president that promised to make Americans healthy again is deliberately weakening those safeguards, and families will suffer preventable illnesses simply because he wants to give the coal industry another handout.

"Americans deserve public health standards that are designed to protect people, not pad the profits of a polluting industry that can't compete with cheaper, reliable, renewable energy. But Donald Trump and Lee Zeldin have made their choice: help their buddies in the coal industry cut corners rather than prioritize the health and safety of our communities. The Sierra Club will fight this decision with everything we have to defend our communities from this dangerous and deadly rollback."

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.