Pennsylvania town faces fallout from Trump's environmental rule rollback

HealthWatch Pennsylvania town faces fallout from Trump's environmental rule rollback .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-healthwatch.jpg'); } By Stephanie Armour, Maia Rosenfeld April 13, 2026 / 5:00 AM EDT / KFF Health News Add CBS News on Google North America's largest coke plant hugs the west bank of Pennsylvania's Monongahela River, belching out emissions from turning superheated coal into a carbon-rich fuel.Researchers say the children at Clairton Elementary School about a mile away pay the price. They discovered the students there and at other elementary schools near major pollution sites in Pennsylvania had higher asthma rates than other children in the state.Residents and environmental advocates saw reason for hope and relief in the form of a Biden administration rule designed to tamp down on coke oven plant pollution. But even before it took effect, President Trump granted all 11 coke plants in the U.S. — including the one in Clairton — a two-year exemption from the standards.Mr. Trump and Republicans have sought to align themselves with the Make America Healthy Again movement's populist ideals, such as improving Americans' food choices and reducing corporate harm to the environment. But the administration is ratcheting up its attacks on the very environmental protections that MAHA followers hold dear.Taken together, these anti-environmental initiatives will lead to more pollution-related illnesses and higher health care spending, health researchers say. They could also have political ramifications, eroding MAHA's support for GOP candidates in the November midterm elections if followers believe the party is more beholden to industry than to the movement's agenda. The Clairton Coke Works facility in Clairton, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 9, 2024. Justin Merriman / Bloomberg via Getty Images Only 1 in 5 American adults, including about a quarter of Republicans, support rolling back environmental regulations,...