Joanna Foster 3 minute read # While Trump administration boosts coal, mercury pollution is rising Published: May 14, 2026 For the first time in years, mercury pollution is on the rise in the U.S. ![Residential homes in the foreground with smokestacks in the background](/sites/default/files/styles/1440px_width_scale/public/2026-05/GettyImages-2261216187%281%29.jpg?itok=hksVuXCi) Pollution from coal-fired power plants rose in 2025. (*Getty*) According to EPA data, emissions of this devastating neurotoxin from coal-fired power plants rose by 9% last year compared to 2024, resulting in 4,800 pounds of mercury being released into the environment. This dramatic reversal in environmental progress isn’t a fluke. The Trump administration is making concerted efforts to prop up the coal industry, by keeping coal power plants online past their retirement dates, while also stripping away Clean Air Act safeguards meant to protect people from coal power plant pollution. Topics - [ Climate and energy ](/all-stories?topic=21&subcategory=21) - [ People and planet ](/all-stories?topic=34&subcategory=34) - [ Clean air ](/all-stories?topic=34&subcategory=35) - [ Clean energy ](/all-stories?topic=21&subcategory=27) - [ Clean water ](/all-stories?topic=34&subcategory=43) - [ Energy ](/all-stories?topic=21&subcategory=24) - [ Environmental justice ](/all-stories?topic=34&subcategory=50) Share - [ LinkedIn ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/while-trump-administration-boosts-coal-mercury-pollution-rising "Share this on LinkedIn") - [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/while-trump-administration-boosts-coal-mercury-pollution-rising&text=In a startling reversal of environmental progress, mercury pollution is on the rise. The Trump administration is facing multiple legal challenges to its efforts to prop up the coal industry, a major source of mercury pollution. "Share this on Twitter") - [ Facebook ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/while-trump-administration-boosts-coal-mercury-pollution-rising "Share this on Facebook") - [ Pocket ](https://getpocket.com/edit?url=https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/while-trump-administration-boosts-coal-mercury-pollution-rising "Share this on Pocket") - [ Flipboard ](https://share.flipboard.com/bookmarklet/popout?v=2&title=While Trump administration boosts coal, mercury pollution is rising&url=https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/while-trump-administration-boosts-coal-mercury-pollution-rising "Share this on Flipboard") - [ Telegram ](https://telegram.me/share/url?url=https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/while-trump-administration-boosts-coal-mercury-pollution-rising&text=In a startling reversal of environmental progress, mercury pollution is on the rise. The Trump administration is facing multiple legal challenges to its efforts to prop up the coal industry, a major source of mercury pollution. "Share this on Telegram") ## Act now [Don’t let the Trump administration give the worst polluters a free pass](https://actnow.edf.org/a/epa-pollution-pass) ## Expensive and unnecessary coal power plant extensions The Trump administration has announced hundreds of millions of dollars of new coal-industry subsidies and signed wasteful contracts for the Department of Defense to procure coal-fired electricity. ![Piles of coal outside of a coal power plant](/sites/default/files/styles/1440px_width_scale/public/2026-04/GettyImages-2225117920%20%281%29.jpg?itok=r0aBFuAQ) Keeping the Campbell coal plant in Michigan open costs a staggering $600,000 a day. (*Getty*) At the same time, the administration has issued a slew of emergency orders to force five costly, unreliable coal plants to stay open long after operators planned to retire them. Keeping just one of those plants open, J.H. Campbell in Michigan, has racked up costs of more than $600,000 a day. The price tag has reached $180 million — a price that will be paid by American families and businesses. Another plant forced to stay open, the Centralia station in Washington state, hasn’t even been supplying energy to the grid because it hasn’t been needed. Trump Department of Energy orders keeping it on standby for a supposed ongoing emergency has already cost $20 million. - [**Coal plant forced to remain open because of energy “emergency” hasn’t generated any power**](/story/coal-plant-forced-remain-open-because-energy-emergency-hasnt-generated-any-power "Coal plant forced to remain open because of energy “emergency” hasn’t generated any power") A broad coalition of environmental nonprofits, state attorneys general, public health advocates and community groups are challenging these coal plant orders in multiple lawsuits. The first of these legal challenges, concerning the Campbell plant, will be heard by a panel of judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday. The case could set an important precedent limiting the authority of the administration to interfere with regional grid planning. ## More pollution exemptions, less health protections At the same time the U.S. is burning more coal, the Trump administration is also gutting [clean air standards](https://www.edf.org/issue/clean-air) that protect Americans from toxic smokestack pollution. “It’s a perfect storm,” says Ted Kelly, lead counsel at the global nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, which is part of the coalition filing the lawsuits . “Coal was already the dirtiest form of electricity. But now, just as its use is spiking, pollution limits are being stripped away.” ![Lee Zeldin speaking at a podium outside](/sites/default/files/styles/1440px_width_scale/public/2026-05/GettyImages-2259398318%281%29.jpg?itok=9Vz60qYK) EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin invited major polluters to email him for pollution waivers — 71 coal plants took him up on the offer. (*Getty*) In March 2025, the Trump administration offered two-year pollution-rules waivers to any industrial facility or power plant that sent an email requesting one. Seventy-one coal-fired power plants got them. According to documents EDF made public through Freedom of Information Act requests, the administration’s waivers went above and beyond what even these industrial polluters requested. Then, in February of this year, the EPA finalized its rollback of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, which protect against mercury, arsenic, nickel and other pollutants from power plants that can cause cancer, heart and lung diseases and brain damage in babies. Facilities will now only have to comply with looser standards dating back to 2012, instead of the updated 2024 standards, which reduced toxic heavy metals emissions, required continuous monitoring at smokestacks and closed a loophole that allowed plants burning especially dirty lignite coal to emit over three times more mercury than other plants. - [**“Beautiful, clean coal” is a myth. So is the idea that coal power is cheap and reliable**](/story/beautiful-clean-coal-myth-so-idea-coal-power-cheap-and-reliable "“Beautiful, clean coal” is a myth. So is the idea that coal power is cheap and reliable. ") Now, even plants that didn’t request a pollution exemption are no longer required to comply with the MATS standard. Environmental Defense Fund and a coalition of health and environmental groups are challenging the MATS repeal in court. “There’s a theme here,” said Surbhi Sarang, senior attorney at EDF. “The Trump administration is going above and beyond what even the coal industry is asking for. American families will be the ones paying the price with their wallets and their health. It’s unacceptable and unlawful, and we will continue to fight back at every turn.” ### Don’t let the Trump administration give the worst polluters a free pass ## Environmental news that matters, straight to your inbox Topics - [ Climate and energy ](/all-stories?topic=21&subcategory=21) - [ People and planet ](/all-stories?topic=34&subcategory=34) - [ Clean air ](/all-stories?topic=34&subcategory=35) - [ Clean energy ](/all-stories?topic=21&subcategory=27) - [ Clean water ](/all-stories?topic=34&subcategory=43) - [ Energy ](/all-stories?topic=21&subcategory=24) - [ Environmental justice ](/all-stories?topic=34&subcategory=50) - [ LinkedIn ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/while-trump-administration-boosts-coal-mercury-pollution-rising "Share this on LinkedIn") - [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/while-trump-administration-boosts-coal-mercury-pollution-rising&text=In a startling reversal of environmental progress, mercury pollution is on the rise. The Trump administration is facing multiple legal challenges to its efforts to prop up the coal industry, a major source of mercury pollution. "Share this on Twitter") - [ Facebook ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/while-trump-administration-boosts-coal-mercury-pollution-rising "Share this on Facebook") - [ Pocket ](https://getpocket.com/edit?url=https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/while-trump-administration-boosts-coal-mercury-pollution-rising "Share this on Pocket") - [ Flipboard ](https://share.flipboard.com/bookmarklet/popout?v=2&title=While Trump administration boosts coal, mercury pollution is rising&url=https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/while-trump-administration-boosts-coal-mercury-pollution-rising "Share this on Flipboard") - [ Telegram ](https://telegram.me/share/url?url=https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/while-trump-administration-boosts-coal-mercury-pollution-rising&text=In a startling reversal of environmental progress, mercury pollution is on the rise. The Trump administration is facing multiple legal challenges to its efforts to prop up the coal industry, a major source of mercury pollution. "Share this on Telegram")