As the Trump administration rolls back environmental protections, Houston communities near the state’s largest coal-fired power plant are experiencing heightened health risks. A CBS News investigation reveals that EPA exemptions have allowed power plants, including NRG’s, to bypass mercury regulations, disproportionately impacting low-income and minority neighborhoods like those surrounding the Houston facility.
As President Trump's Environmental Protection Agency continues to weaken rules on pollution, people living near coal-fired power plants in Houston are becoming more worried. CBS News found that the air quality around the NRG Energy plant, which is Texas's biggest coal-fired power plant, is hazardous to people's health.
During Trump's second term, the EPA gave pollution waivers to 68 power plants, including NRG's. This meant that they were exempt from following federal mercury rules for two years. Experts say that the looser rules could make people in vulnerable areas sicker because mercury is a potent neurotoxin.
The pollution from the close plant makes asthma, lung disease, and heart attacks more likely, says Dr. Winston Liaw, chair of the Health Systems and Population Health Sciences Department at the University of Houston. He said, "There are these tiny particles that start hurting all kinds of tissue in our body."
A 2018 study from Rice University found that pollution from the NRG plant caused approximately 177 early deaths each year. A survey by CBS News found that 65% of plants granted exemptions are located within three miles of low-income, minority areas. This includes Houston neighborhoods.
The head of the Sierra Club, Ben Jealous, said that the changes to regulations were a clear threat to public health. He told her, "You're going to make more asthma attacks and heart attacks." "In the end, poor people are more likely to be hurt."
NRG replied that its coal units are still following the rules and will continue to do so in the future. The Trump administration explained its choice by saying that regulations from the Biden administration put jobs at coal plants and energy security at risk.
Jealous, on the other hand, said, "Solar, wind, and batteries make the most reliable and resilient grid." He says that renewable energy will make the future better for people in Houston.
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