The Senate approved Thursday a efforts to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency rules related to the Clean Air Act aimed at limiting the seven most dangerous Air pollutants Issued by heavy industry.
The 52-46 Party vote marks the first time in the 55-year history of the Clean Air Act, Congress has proposed to weaken the power of the Landmark Environmental Law.
Senate Republicans used the Congressional Review Act to overturn the statute, which was passed by the Biden administration in 2024.
The joint resolution is now a Republican-led house and is also expected to pass.
Last year, rules related to the Clean Air Act were finalized to bridge a loophole that required “primary” sources of all seven dangerous air pollutants to reduce their emissions to the maximum achievable amount, a policy called “once you enter, always enter.”
The rule requires that industrial facilities (usually chemical plants, refineries and other industrial plants classified as the "main" source of toxic air pollution) always maintain strict pollution control. Even if they comply with and limit these levels of pollution, these facilities will always be marked as “primary” sources under the rules.
The Trump administration killed the rule during President Trump’s first term, but the EPA under former President Joe Biden was finalized and updated last September. Environmental advocacy group Earthjustice said the rule forced 1,800 facilities nationwide to tighten air pollution controls to comply with the law.
The seven pollutants discussed are:
Several Republican lawmakers have been trying to revoke the rule. Utah Republican Senator John Curtis proposed the resolution passed Thursday. Curtis argued that the rule refused companies to deploy new technologies to reduce pollution.
"The rules proposed under the former government shut down progress," Curtis said in a statement after the resolution was passed. "It tells companies that no matter how much they invest in reducing harmful emissions, they will still be punished by permanent traditional tape. It's not good science, it's not good governance, which is certainly bad for the environment. My resolution will restore common incentives: If you clean up, you'll get trust and you'll get it."
However, several environmental groups exploded the move.
“Today, I’m more worried about child health than ever,” Melody Reis, director of the Mom Clean Air Force Policy, said in a statement to CBS News. "Just just now, Senate Republicans voted to pass an easy way to release toxic air pollutants associated with cancer, birth defects and brain damage. They voted in favor of allowing chemical manufacturers, chemical manufacturers, pesticide manufacturers, refineries and other facilities to close the pollution of these pollutants and other pollutants, such as those contaminants and all of us have serious risks. Children and all of us have serious risks.
Michelle Roos, executive director of the Environmental Protection Network, a former EPA staff, said in his own statement, “Congress should strengthen the EPA's ability to protect the public from mercury, benzene and other dangerous emissions, rather than depriving the rules that put polluters accountable. ”
The vote marked a major victory for the fossil fuel and petrochemical industry, which lobbyed for “once enter, always” to dominate for a period of time. The National Association of Manufacturers (a trade group) sent Mr. Trump a letter after Trump’s inauguration, calling the rule “heavy” and listing it as one of several environmental regulations “to kill our economy” that should be revoked.
Since January, the Trump administration has made a series of efforts to pass Relax control and Reduce staffing.
EPA administrator Lee Zeldin in an interview with "Facing the Country" debate Rollbacks will not have adverse effects on health or the environment.