Trump’s pollution rollback rewards wealthy plant owners — at the expense of Americans’ health

Wind blowing smoke from a power station.
Photograph: DWalker44/Getty Images

Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claimed on Wednesday that its plan to eviscerate power plant pollution standards will save the US about $1bn a year. In reality, though, this represents a starkly uneven trade-off, experts say.

The savings for “Americans” will go entirely to power plant operators who won’t have to cut their pollution, while at the same time climate and health benefits for all Americans that are 20 times larger in dollar terms will be deleted.