Trump’s EPA is letting Arkansas power plants off the hook for air pollution

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is revisiting Obama-era regulations issued last summer to address the hazy skies over Arkansas. Sulfur-dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants are what’s causing the haze. The regulations, which were prompted by a 2014 lawsuit filed by the Arkansas Sierra Club, required the plants to install scrubbers to reduce the pollution and comply with the Clean Air Act. However, Trump’s EPA—at the request of the electric companies—is delaying that compliance while it reviews the haze rules over the next 90 days. Delaying environmental regulations at the behest of polluters is now par for the course for the EPA under the Trump administration.