Trump administration halts pollution controls at Utah coal plants

By Brady McCombs
Associated Press
Published: Sept. 11, 2017 5:20 p.m.

SALT LAKE CITY — An appeals court granted a request Monday from President Donald Trump's administration to halt a plan for new pollution controls at Utah's oldest coal-fired power plants aimed at reducing haze near national parks. ... The development marks a reversal for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which last year under Barack Obama unveiled the rules and defended itself in a lawsuit brought by Utah and Rocky Mountain Power.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals approved EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's request to halt that lawsuit while his agency revises a plan that called for new equipment to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions at two coal plants in Emery County.

Environmental and clean air groups expressed dismay over the decision Monday that they says rejects EPA's own research that showed the plan would have cut down haze near eastern Utah's Arches and Canyonlands national parks, in addition to other conservation and wilderness areas.

The move by the EPA wasn't a surprise. While visiting Salt Lake City and meeting with Republican Gov. Gary Herbert in July, Pruitt said his agency was reconsidering the plan.