The US government just made it legal for some coal plants to emit more mercury into the air your children breathe.
The Environmental Protection Agency has repealed the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) amendments, reverting to the 2012 rule and reopening a lignite-coal loophole that allows higher mercury emissions. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin with no known safe threshold, especially for fetuses.
After the 2012 MATS rule, mercury emissions from coal plants dropped approximately 90 percent. Infants above the fetal reference dose fell from 622,000 in 2000 to 142,000 in 2023, while adults over 45 with blood mercury above the toxic threshold declined from 17.5 million to 8.5 million.
The repealed 2024 amendments had cut lignite mercury emissions 70 percent and required continuous emissions monitoring; both provisions are now removed.
EPA press office said:
"The 2024 MATS regulation was not needed to ensure clean air for all Americans because of the substantial reductions in both mercury and nonmercury metal emissions after the 2012 rule was put into place."
Dr. Mary Rice said:
"These aren’t just long-term theoretical risks, they’re acute physiologic responses."
Dr. Elsie Sunderland said:
"There’s a lot of literature that shows that just like lead, any level of mercury exposure will lead to some neurodevelopmental impairment and that that persists into adulthood."
Near-term clinical consequences physicians expect to rise include inflammation, cardiac stress, and asthma exacerbations. The 2024 EPA estimate had projected the amendments would yield $33 million in annual health benefits. The agency’s new cost-benefit stance omits the value of a statistical life.
Dr. Vijay Limaye said:
"We’re not content with just the 2012 MATS rule because it’s not clear that any level of mercury in the environment is OK for our health."
Dr. Joel Kaufman said:
"Economic concerns are now overriding the traditional focus on human health effects as the driver of environmental regulation of known human toxins."
Clinicians should advise at-risk patients—pregnant people, children, and those with cardiorespiratory conditions—to monitor local air-quality index alerts and consider masks during high-pollution days.
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Source: Jama doi:10.1001/jama.2026.2435