On March 24, 2025, a webpage was added to the EPA website announcing the creation of an electronic mailbox to allow impacted regulated community to request a Presidential Exemption under Section 112(i)(4) of the Clean Air Act (CAA).
Eligible industry was given until March 31, 2025, to submit an e-mail request.
“The [CAA] allows the President to exempt stationary sources of air pollution from compliance with any standard or limitation under section 112 for up to two years if the technology to implement the standard is not available and it is in the national security interests of the United States to do so,” states the Agency webpage. “Submitting a request via this email box does not entitle the submitter to an exemption. The President will make a decision on the merits.
“An exemption may be extended for up to two additional years and can be renewed, if appropriate.”
On March 12, 2025, the EPA requested that facilities subject to the following regulations submit information detailing why they meet the requirements for a presidential exemption:
- National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP): Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units Review of the Residual Risk and Technology Review (i.e., the Mercury Air Toxics (MATS) Rule)
- New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry and NESHAP for the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry and Group I & II Polymers and Resins (i.e., the Hazardous Organic NESHAP (HON) rule)
- NESHAP: Ethylene Oxide Emissions Standards for Sterilization Facilities Residual Risk and Technology Review (Sterilizer Rule)
- NESHAP: Rubber Tire Manufacturing (89 FR 94886; November 29, 2024) (Rubber Tire Rule)
- NESHAP: Primary Copper Smelting Residual Risk and Technology Review and Primary Copper Smelting Area Source Technology Review (Copper Rule)
- NESHAP: Integrated Iron and Steel Manufacturing Facilities Technology Review (Iron and Steel Rule)
- NESHAP: Lime Manufacturing Plants Technology Review (Lime Rule)
- NESHAP for Coke Ovens: Pushing, Quenching, and Battery Stacks and Coke Oven Batteries; Residual Risk and Technology Review; and Periodic Technology Review (Coke Ovens Rule)
- NESHAP: Taconite Iron Ore Processing (Taconite Rule)
According to the EPA verbiage, the CAA allows for presidential exemptions for stationary sources “if the technology to implement the standard is not available.”
This was the case when the Biden administration used presidential exemptions for industry impacted after “issuing a rule last year tightening emission standards for ethylene oxide (EtO) from commercial facilities that sterilize medical equipment,” said EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou, according to AP News. One of the issues with eliminating EtO uses at the time was that there weren’t readily available alternatives to use in the sterilization of vital medical equipment.
However, for the latest MATS Rule finalized on April 25, 2024, information indicates that the technology to meet the rule’s standards is readily available.
The MATS Rule establishes standards for filterable particulate matter (fPM) and non-mercury hazardous air pollutant (HAP) metals. According to an EPA fact sheet released at the time the rule was finalized, “93% of coal-fired capacity without known retirement plans before the compliance period has already demonstrated an fPM emissions rate at or below ‘the reduced fPM standard’ and that analysis of the power sector indicates that the final rule would result in relatively minor impacts on this industry sector.”
Reactions and possible repercussions
CBS News says many were dumbfounded by the announcement of potential presidential exemptions for pollution.
“This section of the [CAA] is designed to protect people from exposure to the most toxic chemicals — the ones that are dangerous in the smallest concentrations,” Michael Gerrard, an environmental law expert, said in an e-mail, according to CBS News. “It’s shocking that EPA is now providing industries with a simple form they can use to get out of these rules and keep on emitting these harmful substances.”
Others characterized the announcement as a “hall pass for polluters.”
For companies applying for the exemption, it’s important to note that organizations like the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) have stated their intent to publicize those exemptions.
“We will go to court. We will get their records, and we will make that list (of exemptions) public,” said Vickie Patton, EDF general counsel, in AP News.
“It is an enormous stretch to suggest that there’s some national interest in giving industry the right to pollute. That doesn’t make sense to me,” said Jason Rylander, a CBD attorney.
Legal challenges to these exemptions are certain.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Mary Nichols, a distinguished counsel for the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA Law School. “Nichols says because the statute is so broad, it is subject to abuse. ‘I think the likely first lawsuit is a blanket challenge to the entire procedure.’”
The EPA didn’t respond to questions regarding how many e-mails have been received or for an explanation of “how all the emails will be processed and assessed, whether each one will be individually considered by President Trump,” according to CBS News.