Whitehouse Probes Corrupt Toxic Chemical Exemptions Won by Coal Polluters

Ranking Member Whitehouse seeks answers from coal power plant operators who sought and received unprecedented Clean Air Act exemptions via email from Trump under never-before-used provision meant to safeguard national security

Whitehouse's No Passes for Polluters Act would restrict a President's ability to unilaterally exempt polluters from Clean Air Act regulations

Washington, D.C. - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), this week launched an investigation into 17 companies operating coal power plants who sought and received corrupt Presidential exemptions from Clean Air Act rules regulating mercury and other toxic chemical pollution.

"[T]he circumstances surrounding your company's exemption raise serious questions about whether this extraordinary relief was sought and granted for reasons unrelated to the narrow statutory criteria established in the Clean Air Act. The exemption allowed your company to delay installing and/or operating pollution-control technology that [the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)] had determined to be available and economically justified, and in some cases delay retirement of otherwise uneconomic units. At the same time, the exemption introduces additional regulatory risk by allowing facilities to defer compliance investments that may ultimately be required if courts overturn EPA's recent rulemaking," wrote Ranking Member Whitehouse in his letters to the entities.

"The American public is forced to pay for these exemptions and this additional risk, with their health and with their wallets," concluded Whitehouse.

Under section 112(i)(4) of the Clean Air Act, the President may unilaterally exempt any stationary source from toxic pollution standards "if the President determines that the technology to implement such standard is not available and that it is in the national security interests of the United States to do so." No president before President Trump had ever used this exemption.

Shortly after taking office, President Trump's EPA established an "inbox from hell" to solicit exemptions. Drawing on these requests, and making no attempt to show that the requisite control technology was "not available" or that any national security interests were at stake, President Trump unilaterally and unlawfully exempted nearly one-third of all U.S. coal-fired power plants, nearly one-quarter of chemical manufacturers, almost half of all commercial medical sterilizers, one of two U.S. copper smelters, and the entire coke ovens industry from standards for toxic pollutants including mercury, ethylene oxide, benzene, and acid gas.

The Senator sent letters to 17 companies or joint entities covering over 30 power plants and 70 coal units that received exemptions from compliance with the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS) rule. The rule requires coal plants to reduce mercury pollution by 70 percent and emissions of nickel, arsenic, lead, and other toxic metals by two-thirds, and is projected to deliver well over $430 million in total benefits-including substantial health benefits -through 2037. President Trump launched an effort to repeal the MATS rule this year, and the repeal is currently in litigation. The companies that received letters are:

1. Ameren
2. Entergy Arkansas
3. Entergy Louisiana
4. Granite Shore Power
5. Hallador Energy
6. Keel Infrastructure
7. Keystone-Conemaugh Projects, LLC
8. NorthWestern Energy and Talen Energy (joint project)
9. NRG Energy, Inc.
10. Olympus Power LLC
11. Purenergy LLC
12. Rainbow Energy Center
13. Rausch Creek Generation, LLC
14. Ri-Corp Development, Inc.
15. Robindale Energy
16. Southern Company
17. Vistra Corporation

Last month, Ranking Member Whitehouse introduced the No Passes for Polluters Act, legislation to clarify congressional intent in exempting toxic polluters from regulation under the Clean Air Act. The bill would strike section 112(i)(4) from the Clean Air Act and ensure other sections that could be abused by a corrupt executive branch-namely sections 118(b), 248(e), and 604(f)-are only used in cases of true emergency. The legislation also sets up a process wherein the President must seek and obtain a two thirds approval vote from Congress before using these three exemptions.

The Senator requested answers to questions and document production from the companies by May 28, 2026.