Trump seeks to give dirty U.S. coal plants a break on soot, Reuters says

The Trump administration plans to overturn pollution rules that seek to reduce soot emissions from U.S. coal-fired power plants in a move that aims tot help keep some of the U.S.’s dirtiest plants operational, Reuters’ Tim McLaughlin reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The nation’s dirtiest coal plants would be among the biggest beneficiaries from a rollback of soot limits, including Montana’s Colstrip power plant, which the EPA says is America’s only coal plant without modern pollution controls for particulate matter, the author notes. Talen Energy (TLN), the operator of the facility and minority owner, recently joined over 20 states in a pending legal challenge to the Biden administration’s stricter rules in the Washington D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, while NorthWestern Energy (NWE), who will own a majority of Colstrip at the end of this year, has estimated that complying with Biden era limits would cost the plant’s owners $350M-$665M, the author says. Other publicly traded companies in the coal space include Alliance Resource Partners (ARLP), Arch Resources (ARCH), Consol Energy (CEIX) and Peabody Energy (BTU).