Trump Exempted Some of the Nation’s Biggest Polluters From Air Quality Rules. All It Took Was an Email. by Mark Olalde Co-published with Gray Television/InvestigateTV May 8, 2026, 5:00 am

https://www.propublica.org/article/clean-air-act-exemptions-trump-emails?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9B09ngUd6zt2Tk2MY1PrfFh45s6WghC1MK8Q2pza_N2Lbhf1JkOfELbkOUAxlUwIwcQclMsmhZHk2evhf2uqwJpopQ_A&_hsmi=417857248&utm_content=417857248&utm_source=hs_email ProPublica: Trump Let Polluters Sidestep Clean Air Act Rules With Just An Email In March 2025, President Donald Trump’s administration made a tantalizing offer to coal-fired power plants, chemical manufacturing facilities and other factories: Their operations could be exempted from key provisions under the Clean Air Act, the bedrock environmental law estimated to have prevented thousands of premature deaths. All they had to do was ask. No rigorous application was needed. An email, which they had until the end of the month to send, would suffice. (Olalde, 5/8)