Last week, the United States Congress passed a sweeping rollback of crucial pollution control standards. The resolution cancels a Biden-era rule guaranteeing continued emissions controls on facilities emitting substantial amounts of seven “super-toxics,” including lead compounds, arsenic, mercury, and benzene. If signed into law by President Donald Trump, this move will likely cause substantial harm to the health of people in vulnerable communities and set back broader progress towards realizing a healthier environment for all.
According to the National Resources Defense Council, these super-toxics are the “most dangerous, persistent, bioaccumulative hazardous air pollutants that the law controls.” Even at extremely low levels, they can cause serious health harms including cancer and developmental disorders. Maternal and reproductive health is particularly at risk, as pregnant people and fetuses are extremely sensitive to these poisons.
The bill allows over 1,800 industrial facilities to dispense with strict emissions controls that had been mandated by rule and ignore currently required air pollution monitoring and reporting.
The bill also undermines decades of work by environmental and public health civil servants in the US government working to implement the Clean Air Act and protect human health. And the damage may not be easily undone, as the Congressional Review Act—the authority Congress is invoking to roll back these rules—prohibits the executive from issuing new rules that are “substantially similar” to any that Congress strikes down using the act.
People across the US are at risk from this bill, but its impacts may be felt mostly by communities already facing the worst effects of air pollution because they live near high-polluting industry. A 2024 Human Rights Watch report on Louisiana’s Cancer Alley showed how the government’s failure to properly regulate air toxics-producing industry causes disproportionate health damage to Black communities. President Trump should not sign this disastrous resolution.
