{"id":25679,"date":"2026-01-28T12:01:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/?p=25679"},"modified":"2026-01-28T12:01:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:01:18","slug":"project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2026\/01\/28\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\/","title":{"rendered":"Project\u00a0Emissions\u00a0Accounting\u00a0\u2013 a Trump EPA loophole that is adding dangerous pollution to the air we breathe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the most harmful actions&nbsp;the&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;EPA took during&nbsp;its&nbsp;first term was undermining long-standing Clean Air Act&nbsp;safeguards&nbsp;that require industrial facilities like&nbsp;refineries and power plants to&nbsp;modernize their pollution controls when they are newly built or expanding in a way that increases overall pollution volumes. These protections are intended to ensure newly constructed facilities or refurbishing existing industrial facilities are good neighbors and install the best available pollution controls to mitigate the harms when their industrial activities are increasing pollution in our communities. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;Trump EPA&nbsp;granted&nbsp;polluters&nbsp;a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/08\/19\/us\/politics\/epa-coal-emissions-standards-william-wehrum.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">long-sought<\/a>&nbsp;pass that&nbsp;allowed facilities to evade these&nbsp;New&nbsp;Source&nbsp;Review protections&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;without the public or regulators even knowing that pollution-increasing projects&nbsp;were&nbsp;taking place.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last November, EDF,&nbsp;Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)&nbsp;and&nbsp;the&nbsp;Sierra Club&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/library.edf.org\/AssetLink\/ht051j0v25sy07km01e15otn8r8y1q4g.pdf\">filed&nbsp;a brief<\/a> in court&nbsp;challenging&nbsp;the Trump EPA\u2019s&nbsp;adoption of&nbsp;this&nbsp;damaging policy,&nbsp;which is known as&nbsp;Project&nbsp;Emissions&nbsp;Accounting.&nbsp;The Trump EPA <a href=\"https:\/\/library.edf.org\/AssetLink\/y7q7s23e80c81i4lgx5l1578phod181r.pdf\">filed its brief<\/a> this week.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Project&nbsp;Emissions&nbsp;Accounting&nbsp;allows industry to manipulate emissions calculations to avoid triggering requirements&nbsp;that would&nbsp;protect local air quality against large pollution increases.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&nbsp;are some&nbsp;more&nbsp;things you should&nbsp;know:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>New Source Review&nbsp;is&nbsp;an essential safeguard for local air quality<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For decades,&nbsp;New&nbsp;Source&nbsp;Review&nbsp;safeguards have&nbsp;applied whenever an industrial plant makes a change that increases&nbsp;its&nbsp;pollution. To ensure&nbsp;this&nbsp;excess pollution&nbsp;doesn\u2019t&nbsp;compromise local air quality,&nbsp;New&nbsp;Source&nbsp;Review provides&nbsp;protections&nbsp;that include:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>requiring the use of the most up-to-date control technologies\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>requiring rigorous analysis of the impacts of the\u00a0additional\u00a0pollution on local air quality, including through local air quality monitoring\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and ensuring this information is provided to the community\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ensuring that\u00a0additional\u00a0pollution does not interfere with the area\u2019s ability to meet\u00a0National\u00a0Ambient\u00a0Air\u00a0Quality\u00a0Standards\u00a0\u2013\u00a0the national health-based limits for\u00a0certain\u00a0potentially\u00a0deadly\u00a0pollutants\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>opportunities\u00a0for public participation, including public hearings\u00a0and opportunities\u00a0for\u00a0people\u00a0to provide written comments on\u00a0a facility\u2019s\u00a0proposed permit\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>in some cases, requiring\u00a0a facility\u00a0to offset its pollution increases by making other equivalent pollution reductions\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Project Emissions Accounting&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;an industry free pass to pollute&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Trump EPA\u2019s \u201cproject emissions accounting\u201d policy&nbsp;creates new loopholes that effectively&nbsp;grant industry near limitless ability to increase&nbsp;pollution&nbsp;significantly&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;like by building new&nbsp;power&nbsp;plants&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;without going through&nbsp;New&nbsp;Source&nbsp;Review.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s&nbsp;how it works:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes existing plants make changes that result in both&nbsp;pollution&nbsp;increases and&nbsp;pollution&nbsp;decreases.&nbsp;For example, a manufacturing plant might increase production of a certain product, increasing&nbsp;its pollution, but at the same time cut production of another product line,&nbsp;decreasing&nbsp;its pollution&nbsp;from that process.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Previously, a plant&nbsp;could&nbsp;count&nbsp;these pollution decreases&nbsp;against the&nbsp;pollution increases&nbsp;to avoid being subject to&nbsp;New&nbsp;Source&nbsp;Review&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;but&nbsp;<strong><em>ONLY&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong>with certain conditions&nbsp;to ensure that the decreases&nbsp;were&nbsp;<strong><em>real<\/em><\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong><em>enforceable<\/em><\/strong>, and happened&nbsp;<strong><em>before<\/em>&nbsp;<\/strong>the pollution increases.&nbsp;The Trump&nbsp;EPA&nbsp;did away with these critical safeguards.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under&nbsp;the Trump EPA\u2019s&nbsp;policy,&nbsp;facilities can avoid&nbsp;New&nbsp;Source&nbsp;Review by counting pollution decreases that&nbsp;are speculative, are&nbsp;not&nbsp;permanent,&nbsp;and&nbsp;are not projected to occur until&nbsp;<em>years<\/em>&nbsp;into the future.&nbsp;That means&nbsp;communities will suffer&nbsp;rises&nbsp;in&nbsp;noxious&nbsp;emissions&nbsp;with none of the protections of&nbsp;New&nbsp;Source&nbsp;Review.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>No&nbsp;transparency&nbsp;about&nbsp;significant&nbsp;increases in air pollution&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sources that&nbsp;use&nbsp;Project&nbsp;Emissions&nbsp;Accounting to avoid&nbsp;New&nbsp;Source&nbsp;Review&nbsp;may still be subject to&nbsp;state permitting requirements, but this&nbsp;review&nbsp;is&nbsp;often insufficient&nbsp;to provide meaningful protection.&nbsp;The federal rules governing such programs are weak. They&nbsp;largely&nbsp;delegate&nbsp;to&nbsp;the&nbsp;states to&nbsp;determine&nbsp;how protective review of minor sources should be, and those requirements can vary widely from state&nbsp;to&nbsp;state.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alarmingly, there is&nbsp;<em>no requirement<\/em>&nbsp;for sources to&nbsp;disclose&nbsp;when they have used&nbsp;Project&nbsp;Emissions&nbsp;Accounting&nbsp;to avoid&nbsp;New&nbsp;Source&nbsp;Review. Federal and state regulators themselves have no way of tracking which sources&nbsp;have decided they do not need to go through&nbsp;the&nbsp;full&nbsp;process.&nbsp;Facilities&nbsp;are not&nbsp;required&nbsp;to&nbsp;document or report their&nbsp;emissions decreases.&nbsp;The&nbsp;Trump EPA plan&nbsp;is based on industry&nbsp;self-regulation with no oversight.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Biden&nbsp;administration&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2024\/05\/03\/2024-04029\/prevention-of-significant-deterioration-psd-and-nonattainment-new-source-review-nnsr-regulations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">had&nbsp;proposed<\/a>&nbsp;adding&nbsp;guardrails&nbsp;to the use of&nbsp;Project&nbsp;Emissions&nbsp;Accounting \u2013&nbsp;including requiring&nbsp;that&nbsp;emissions decreases be enforceable,&nbsp;and adding recordkeeping,&nbsp;reporting&nbsp;and monitoring requirements. That proposal&nbsp;was not&nbsp;finalized&nbsp;though,&nbsp;and the Trump&nbsp;administration last summer&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2025\/07\/21\/2025-13598\/prevention-of-significant-deterioration-psd-and-nonattainment-new-source-review-nnsr-regulations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">withdrew&nbsp;the proposal<\/a>&nbsp;with little explanation.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Exploitation of&nbsp;a&nbsp;loophole&nbsp;for new&nbsp;gas&nbsp;power plants<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Trump&nbsp;administration adopted&nbsp;its&nbsp;policy in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2018\/03\/30\/2018-06430\/issuance-of-guidance-memorandum-project-emissions-accounting-under-the-new-source-review\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2018<\/a>&nbsp;and formalized&nbsp;it in rulemaking in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2020\/11\/24\/2020-23784\/prevention-of-significant-deterioration-psd-and-nonattainment-new-source-review-nnsr-project\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2020.<\/a>&nbsp;Since then,&nbsp;sources across the country have used it to evade&nbsp;New&nbsp;Source&nbsp;Review.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While we have no way of&nbsp;knowing&nbsp;exactly how widespread&nbsp;the&nbsp;use&nbsp;of Project Emissions Accounting&nbsp;is due to&nbsp;the&nbsp;lack of transparency,&nbsp;what&nbsp;we have found&nbsp;suggests&nbsp;a deeply alarming and inappropriate reliance on this policy to avoid&nbsp;New&nbsp;Source&nbsp;Review for&nbsp;large&nbsp;new sources of pollution.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One particularly egregious&nbsp;use is by&nbsp;some&nbsp;power companies&nbsp;that&nbsp;operate&nbsp;aging&nbsp;coal plants&nbsp;that they plan to retire.&nbsp;In certain cases, owners of these plants have avoided&nbsp;New&nbsp;Source&nbsp;Review for&nbsp;the&nbsp;construction of new gas&nbsp;power&nbsp;plants&nbsp;by siting them near the existing coal plants they had already planned to shut&nbsp;down \u2013&nbsp;and claiming that pollution from the new gas plants,&nbsp;like&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.edf.org\/media\/new-interactive-map-shows-nationwide-pollution-gas-turbines\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dangerous&nbsp;nitrogen oxides (NOx) that contribute to smog,<\/a>&nbsp;is offset by the pollution decreases from closing old coal plants.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This&nbsp;maneuver&nbsp;allows them to&nbsp;evade rigorous&nbsp;air pollution protections&nbsp;that would apply&nbsp;if the gas plant were sited anywhere else&nbsp;\u2013 including&nbsp;requirements to install modern controls for&nbsp;smog-forming&nbsp;NOx pollution&nbsp;and to consider cleaner alternatives. This is even&nbsp;true&nbsp;when the companies&nbsp;have made&nbsp;no<strong><em>&nbsp;enforceable&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong>commitment&nbsp;to&nbsp;<strong><em>permanently<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;shut down&nbsp;the old coal plants&nbsp;<strong><em>before<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;operating&nbsp;the new gas plants.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is especially concerning&nbsp;because&nbsp;the Trump&nbsp;administration has&nbsp;finalized&nbsp;a weak&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.edf.org\/media\/trump-epa-finalizes-weak-rule-reduce-dangerous-air-pollution-new-gas-burning-power-plants\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NOx pollution standard<\/a>&nbsp;for new gas plants&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;rejecting science-based&nbsp;standards achievable&nbsp;with&nbsp;the use of&nbsp;readily available&nbsp;modern pollution controls.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under&nbsp;New&nbsp;Source&nbsp;Review&nbsp;regulators&nbsp;conduct&nbsp;individualized reviews and&nbsp;may require&nbsp;more protective controls&nbsp;than&nbsp;what is&nbsp;required by&nbsp;broadly applicable&nbsp;New&nbsp;Source&nbsp;Pollution&nbsp;Standards.&nbsp;But with new&nbsp;power&nbsp;plants able to&nbsp;manipulate&nbsp;Project&nbsp;Emissions&nbsp;Accounting to avoid&nbsp;New&nbsp;Source&nbsp;Review,&nbsp;this backstop is lost.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In total, EDF and partners&nbsp;identified&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/library.edf.org\/AssetLink\/x8t2n6y6q3regdisfv0jqlvlw438r13i.pdf\">at least 12<\/a> new or expanding facilities&nbsp;across eight states (Kentucky, Tennessee, California, Oklahoma, Michigan, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina) that have exploited this loophole to evade New Source Review Safeguards.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are&nbsp;just&nbsp;two&nbsp;instances, both in North Carolina:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Duke\u00a0Marshall Steam Station\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong>the facility\u00a0was issued a permit\u00a0without going through\u00a0New\u00a0Source\u00a0Review to construct two new gas\u00a0combustion turbines. Its operators managed this\u00a0by relying on emissions decreases from the planned retirement of two existing coal units.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/starw1.ncuc.gov\/NCUC\/page\/docket-docs\/PSC\/DocketDetails.aspx?DocketId=9c5a888c-1713-4a2c-8604-ec057430b00d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Regulatory filings<\/a>\u00a0show that Duke Energy\u00a0<em>chose<\/em>\u00a0to site the new gas power plants in this location\u00a0instead of other\u00a0places\u00a0it was considering\u00a0<em>after<\/em>\u00a0it had already planned to retire the coal plants\u00a0\u2014\u00a0in\u00a0part\u00a0to\u00a0take advantage of the loophole created by the Trump\u00a0EPA\u00a0policy.\u00a0The permit allows\u00a0the new gas units to begin operation\u00a0<em>before\u00a0<\/em>the two coal units are shut down.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Roxboro Steam Electric Plant\u00a0&#8212;\u00a0<\/strong>the facilitywas issued a permit without going through\u00a0New\u00a0Source\u00a0Review to construct four new gas combustion turbines. Its operators managed this\u00a0by relying on the planned retirement of four existing coal units. The permit\u00a0places\u00a0<em>no\u00a0restrictions<\/em>\u00a0on when\u00a0\u2014\u00a0or if\u00a0\u2014\u00a0those\u00a0coal units must stop\u00a0operating.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>EDF and&nbsp;our&nbsp;partners will continue to&nbsp;vigorously oppose&nbsp;this damaging policy&nbsp;as the case continues&nbsp;in court.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most harmful actions&nbsp;the&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;EPA took during&nbsp;its&nbsp;first term was undermining long-standing Clean Air Act&nbsp;safeguards&nbsp;that require industrial facilities like&nbsp;refineries and power plants to&nbsp;modernize their pollution controls when they are newly built or expanding in a way that increases overall pollution volumes. These protections are intended to ensure newly constructed facilities or refurbishing existing industrial facilities &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4017,4024,44],"tags":[],"coauthors":[108198],"class_list":["post-25679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clean-air-act","category-epa-litgation","category-policy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Project\u00a0Emissions\u00a0Accounting\u00a0\u2013 a Trump EPA loophole that is adding dangerous pollution to the air we breathe - Climate 411<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2026\/01\/28\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Project\u00a0Emissions\u00a0Accounting\u00a0\u2013 a Trump EPA loophole that is adding dangerous pollution to the air we breathe - Climate 411\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the most harmful actions&nbsp;the&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;EPA took during&nbsp;its&nbsp;first term was undermining long-standing Clean Air Act&nbsp;safeguards&nbsp;that require industrial facilities like&nbsp;refineries and power plants to&nbsp;modernize their pollution controls when they are newly built or expanding in a way that increases overall pollution volumes. These protections are intended to ensure newly constructed facilities or refurbishing existing industrial facilities ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2026\/01\/28\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate 411\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-28T17:01:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-28T17:01:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Surbhi Sarang\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Surbhi Sarang\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/28\\\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/28\\\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Surbhi Sarang\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/05de95293e9f93e76abf46a43aa409a8\"},\"headline\":\"Project\u00a0Emissions\u00a0Accounting\u00a0\u2013 a Trump EPA loophole that is adding dangerous pollution to the air we breathe\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-28T17:01:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-28T17:01:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/28\\\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1658,\"articleSection\":[\"Clean Air Act\",\"EPA litgation\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/28\\\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/28\\\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\\\/\",\"name\":\"Project\u00a0Emissions\u00a0Accounting\u00a0\u2013 a Trump EPA loophole that is adding dangerous pollution to the air we breathe - Climate 411\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-28T17:01:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-28T17:01:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/05de95293e9f93e76abf46a43aa409a8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/28\\\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/28\\\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/28\\\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Project\u00a0Emissions\u00a0Accounting\u00a0\u2013 a Trump EPA loophole that is adding dangerous pollution to the air we breathe\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/\",\"name\":\"Climate 411\",\"description\":\"Blogging the science and policy of global warming\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/05de95293e9f93e76abf46a43aa409a8\",\"name\":\"Surbhi Sarang\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e308e7d13ccc5d8b522b21de210717096b6dfb500d5f7c079901e32c26227ad?s=96&d=mm&r=gcbfd19c5860b9bb8e8c3d88e891a3e39\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e308e7d13ccc5d8b522b21de210717096b6dfb500d5f7c079901e32c26227ad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e308e7d13ccc5d8b522b21de210717096b6dfb500d5f7c079901e32c26227ad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Surbhi Sarang\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.edf.org\\\/people\\\/surbhi-sarang\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/author\\\/ssarang\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Project\u00a0Emissions\u00a0Accounting\u00a0\u2013 a Trump EPA loophole that is adding dangerous pollution to the air we breathe - Climate 411","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2026\/01\/28\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Project\u00a0Emissions\u00a0Accounting\u00a0\u2013 a Trump EPA loophole that is adding dangerous pollution to the air we breathe - Climate 411","og_description":"One of the most harmful actions&nbsp;the&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;EPA took during&nbsp;its&nbsp;first term was undermining long-standing Clean Air Act&nbsp;safeguards&nbsp;that require industrial facilities like&nbsp;refineries and power plants to&nbsp;modernize their pollution controls when they are newly built or expanding in a way that increases overall pollution volumes. These protections are intended to ensure newly constructed facilities or refurbishing existing industrial facilities ...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2026\/01\/28\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\/","og_site_name":"Climate 411","article_published_time":"2026-01-28T17:01:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-28T17:01:18+00:00","author":"Surbhi Sarang","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Surbhi Sarang","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2026\/01\/28\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2026\/01\/28\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\/"},"author":{"name":"Surbhi Sarang","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/#\/schema\/person\/05de95293e9f93e76abf46a43aa409a8"},"headline":"Project\u00a0Emissions\u00a0Accounting\u00a0\u2013 a Trump EPA loophole that is adding dangerous pollution to the air we breathe","datePublished":"2026-01-28T17:01:16+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-28T17:01:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2026\/01\/28\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\/"},"wordCount":1658,"articleSection":["Clean Air Act","EPA litgation","Policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2026\/01\/28\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2026\/01\/28\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\/","name":"Project\u00a0Emissions\u00a0Accounting\u00a0\u2013 a Trump EPA loophole that is adding dangerous pollution to the air we breathe - Climate 411","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-01-28T17:01:16+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-28T17:01:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/#\/schema\/person\/05de95293e9f93e76abf46a43aa409a8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2026\/01\/28\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2026\/01\/28\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2026\/01\/28\/project-emissions-accounting-a-trump-epa-loophole-that-is-adding-dangerous-pollution-to-the-air-we-breathe\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Project\u00a0Emissions\u00a0Accounting\u00a0\u2013 a Trump EPA loophole that is adding dangerous pollution to the air we breathe"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/","name":"Climate 411","description":"Blogging the science and policy of global warming","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/#\/schema\/person\/05de95293e9f93e76abf46a43aa409a8","name":"Surbhi Sarang","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e308e7d13ccc5d8b522b21de210717096b6dfb500d5f7c079901e32c26227ad?s=96&d=mm&r=gcbfd19c5860b9bb8e8c3d88e891a3e39","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e308e7d13ccc5d8b522b21de210717096b6dfb500d5f7c079901e32c26227ad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e308e7d13ccc5d8b522b21de210717096b6dfb500d5f7c079901e32c26227ad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Surbhi Sarang"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.edf.org\/people\/surbhi-sarang"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/author\/ssarang\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/153233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25681,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25679\/revisions\/25681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25679"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=25679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}