WASHINGTON – Former president Donald Trump on Friday reversed a Biden governance rule imposing stricter pollution limits on copper smelters, citing concerns for American mineral security and domestic production.Teh move grants a two-year exemption from compliance with updated federal air standards for affected facilities.
The rule, finalized in May 2024, required smelters to reduce emissions of pollutants including lead, arsenic, mercury, benzene, and dioxins. The Trump administration argues that adhering to these requirements could force further closures within the already limited U.S. copper smelting industry, increasing reliance on foreign suppliers and weakening the nation’s industrial base. The decision underscores a broader Trump administration strategy of prioritizing domestic mineral production, even if it means rolling back environmental regulations.
According to the White House, the exemption will help promote American mineral security by reducing regulatory burdens on domestic copper producers. “Imposing these requirements on such a limited and already strained domestic industry risks accelerating further closures, weakening the Nation’s industrial base, undermining mineral independence, and increasing reliance on foreign-controlled processing capacity,” a statement released Friday read.
The U.S. currently operates only two copper smelters, located in Arizona and Utah. Freeport-McMoRan and Rio Tinto, the operators of those smelters, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This action follows an executive order signed by Trump earlier this year identifying copper as a critical material for defense, infrastructure, and emerging technologies, including clean energy and electric vehicles. That order initiated a Section 232 investigation into whether copper imports threaten U.S. national security. The investigation lead to the imposition of a 50% tariff on certain imported copper and a mandate requiring an increasing percentage of high-quality scrap copper produced in the U.S. to be sold domestically.
