Trump Rolls Back Clean Air Protections, Allowing Copper Smelters to Spew Toxic Pollution
Copper producers allowed to spew lead, arsenic, mercury, benzene, and dioxins into communities across the country
WASHINGTON — In a Friday rollback of standards intended to protect clean air across the country, the Trump administration granted copper smelters a two-year exemption from complying with a pollution rule adopted under the Biden administration on October 24th. The rule was intended to limit the amounts of lead, arsenic, mercury, benzene, and dioxins from copper production. In response, Deanna Noël, climate campaigns director with Public Citizen’s Climate Program issued the following statement:
“Delaying stronger emissions controls at copper smelters is irresponsible and puts already overburdened communities at greater risk of unchecked pollution. This move opens the door to further rolling back environmental protections whenever ‘critical minerals’ are invoked. We are at a crossroads: the U.S. can lead by investing deeply and sustainably in important, emerging technologies and their supply chains, or we can fall behind by slashing investment and sacrificing public health and the environment to short-term corporate profits. Instead of backsliding, the U.S. should be strengthening protections and investing in cleaner technologies that cut climate and health-harming pollution, while building a cleaner and more resilient domestic supply chain for the future.”
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