 <br><span class="ArticlePage-articleBody-firstLetter">T</span>he Biden administration on Friday reinstated the scientific, economic, and safety underpinnings of the <a class="Link" href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/epa-scraps-mercury-rule-math-in-effort-critics-say-will-hamper-regulation-of-pollution">Mercury and Air Toxics Standards</a> rules limiting <a class="Link" href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/pollution">pollutants</a> released by <a class="Link" href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/power-plants">power plants</a>. 

The decision reverses the undoing of the foundation for the rules by the administration of then-President <a class="Link" href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> in 2020 and paves the way for the administration to set stricter controls on emissions of mercury, gas, and other harmful pollutants. 

Under Trump, the Environmental Protection Agency had concluded the Obama administration, in establishing that it was appropriate and necessary to impose the rules, had relied too heavily on counting “co-benefits,” or secondary benefits, that arise from reductions in pollutants other than the one targeted by the regulation. 

Biden’s EPA announced early last year that it intended to undo the Trump-era rollback and its decision that the costs of the rules outweighed the benefits. 

“For years, Mercury and Air Toxics Standards have protected the health of American communities nationwide, especially children, low-income communities, and communities of color who often and unjustly live near power plants,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. 

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“This finding ensures the continuation of these critical, life-saving protections while advancing President Biden’s commitment to making science-based decisions and protecting the health and wellbeing of all people and all communities," he added. 

Utilities had spent billions on installing pollution controls to comply with the earlier rule and had opposed the Trump administration effort. 

Edison Electric Institute President Tom Kuhn praised the EPA move Friday. 

“With the appropriate and necessary finding restored, electric companies can remain focused on getting the energy we provide as clean as we can as fast as we can while maintaining the reliability and affordability that our customers value,” he said.

The Biden administration on Friday reinstated the scientific, economic, and safety underpinnings of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rules limiting pollutants released by power plants.