"EPA might try to toughen hazardous air pollutant standards for coal-fired power plants in the course of revisiting one of the Trump administration's most incendiary environmental moves, according to the agency's acting air chief.
"We will be looking at whether or not there is another increment of reductions in air toxics that we might propose to require," Joe Goffman, a longtime Clean Air Act lawyer, said in a virtual interview Friday with E&E News. Should EPA take that step, the long-term cost of new emission controls would likely further squeeze plants already struggling to compete against cheaper renewable and gas-fired sources of electricity.
Goffman also indicated that his office is close to acting on a petition to reconsider another contested Trump administration decision on national soot standards and is pursuing a "comprehensive strategy" to give communities more information about their exposure to air pollutants that cause cancer and other serious health problems."
