The Trump administration’s sign-off on exemptions for meeting EPA air toxics rules includes almost all of the nation’s facilities that burn lignite coal — which generally rank among the industry’s highest emitters of the neurotoxin mercury.
Of the 10 lignite-fueled plants that EPA predicted might need added controls to meet a mercury emissions limit, nine have received two-year extensions that will give them until mid-2029 to comply, according to a newly posted EPA roster of electric generating facilities now getting a pass from the normal Clean Air Act timetable.
Five of those are in North Dakota, which is a lignite-mining hub.
Among them is Coal Creek station. In 2023, its 285 pounds of mercury emissions ranked second nationally among power sector sources, outpaced only by the Oak Grove plant in Texas. according to EPA data. That plant, also classified as a lignite-burning operation, reported emissions of almost 300 pounds.
