US energy firm opposes Trump plan to roll back mercury rules
A leading US energy company is lobbying against the Trump administration’s move to roll back a major Obama-era environmental regulation, arguing that weakening a rule on mercury emissions would potentially kill jobs across the south and waste billions of dollars of investment.
he campaign by Exelon, a $34bn company that produces nuclear energy, and other electric power companies against weakening the rule stands in stark contrast to the arguments that have underpinned the Trump administration’s efforts to reverse Obama-era health and environmental rules. It also reveals deep divisions within the energy sector about the alleged benefits of rolling back such regulations.
The Trump administration’s effort to change the mercury rule, which was previously litigated for years in the courts and is arguably one of the most costly environmental regulations ever to be implemented, is seen as benefiting one company in particular: Murray Energy Company, one of the largest US coal companies. Murray, which is controlled by Robert Murray, a major donor to Trump’s inauguration events, reportedly requested a change in the mercury rule shortly after the president took office. Andrew Wheeler, the acting administrator of the EPA, formerly worked for a law firm that represented the coal magnate.
Mercury is a neurotoxin that humans can be exposed to through the ingestion of contaminated fish, seafood, and wildlife, causing damage to the nervous system in adults and neurological damage in infants.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/15/energy-company-takes-stance-against-trump-effort-to-rollback-mercury-rule
= new reply since forum marked as read
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A former Department of Energy photographer has filed a federal whistleblower suit alleging he lost his job after leaking photos of a private meeting between Energy Secretary Rick Perry and a major Trump donor who heads one of the country's largest mining companies.
The photographer, Simon Edelman, took photos of the March 29, 2017 meeting between Perry and Robert "Bob" Murray, the CEO of Ohio-based Murray Energy, who gave $300,000 to the Trump campaign.
The photographs show Perry and Murray embracing and Murray handing Perry a four-page confidential "action plan" for reviving the country's struggling coal industry. The Associated Press and The New York Times obtained copies of the plan earlier this month and reported that it mirrors policy later pushed by the Trump administration.
Also at the meeting were Perry's chief of staff and a coal company lobbyist, Andrew Wheeler, who was later nominated by President Trump to serve as deputy administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/18/578791199/photographer-says-he-lost-his-job-after-leaking-pictures-of-rick-perry-and-coal
Another link:
Photog fired after leaking image of Rick Perry hugging Coal Baron
There are a few more.
