On June 3, 2026, Susan Collins voted against taking up a resolution to restore the 2024 limits on mercury and other toxic air pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants, which Lee Zeldin's EPA had repealed. In May 2025 she voted to repeal the rule that kept the largest sources of hazardous air pollution under the strictest controls.
Collins voted to confirm Zeldin, whose agency in May 2026 proposed to rescind federal drinking-water limits for four forever chemicals and to delay limits for two others, and delayed deadlines for coal ash and power-plant wastewater. In Maine, his EPA terminated three PFAS research grants, including tribal research at the former Loring Air Force Base, before restoring two of them.
Susan Collins's Votes and Confirmations on Clean Water and Toxic Pollution
- Collins Voted Against Restoring Mercury Limits on Power Plants in June 2026. On June 3, 2026, Susan Collins voted no on taking up S.J.Res. 188, which would have overturned EPA's repeal of the 2024 mercury and air toxics standards. It failed 46 to 53. On Feb. 20, 2026, EPA finalized its repeal of the Biden administration standards regulating HAPs from these plants, returning to the 2012 limits. Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that ends up in the water and soil, builds up in fish, and is most dangerous for pregnant women and young children.
- Collins Voted to Let Major Toxic Air Polluters Escape the Strictest Controls in May 2025. On May 1, 2025, Susan Collins voted yes on S.J.Res. 31, which passed 52 to 46 and repealed EPA's 2024 Once In Always In rule. On June 20, 2025, Congress repealed the 2024 rule using the Congressional Review Act, so a major source can reclassify as an area source if it reduces its emissions below the threshold and leave the strictest federal controls on hazardous air pollutants behind.
- Collins Voted to Confirm the EPA Administrator Who Proposed Dropping Limits on Forever Chemicals in Drinking Water. On January 29, 2025, Susan Collins voted to confirm Lee Zeldin as EPA administrator, and on June 10, 2025 she voted to confirm his deputy, David Fotouhi. On May 18, 2026 his EPA proposed a rule that would rescind Biden-era regulations for PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA, and Hazard Index mixtures in drinking water and extend the compliance deadlines for the PFOA and PFOS limits by two years, to 2031; the proposal is not final. On Feb. 6, 2026, EPA announced a final rule to delay deadlines for coal ash, ash that contains many contaminants, including mercury and arsenic, and in December 2025 it published a final rule extending compliance deadlines for limits on power-plant wastewater, which carries arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium, chromium, and cadmium. Policy Integrity puts the wastewater delay's cost at $2,208,000,000 a year in lost net benefits.
- Collins Voted to Confirm the EPA Administrator Whose Agency Withheld Community Grants Congress Provided. Susan Collins voted to confirm Lee Zeldin on January 29, 2025, and in 2025 his EPA terminated Community Change grants for neighborhoods facing pollution. In October 2026 the Government Accountability Office concluded, We find that EPA violated the ICA when the agency, without submitting a special message to Congress, withheld the money, meaning the agency broke the law that bars withholding funds Congress provided.
What the Pollution Rollbacks Under Susan Collins's Votes Mean for Maine
- PFAS research. In May 2025 Zeldin's EPA cut millions in funding for research in Maine on forever chemicals, including work led by the Mi'kmaq Nation on contaminated land at the former Loring Air Force base, and in June it restored two of the three Maine-based grants for forever chemical research that it terminated this spring without explanation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Susan Collins on Clean water and pollution
What is Susan Collins's record on clean water and pollution under Trump?
Susan Collins voted against restoring the 2024 mercury limits on power plants and voted to repeal the rule that kept major toxic air polluters under the strictest controls. She voted to confirm EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, whose agency proposed to rescind drinking-water limits for four PFAS chemicals and delayed coal ash and wastewater deadlines. In Maine, Zeldin's EPA cut and then partly restored PFAS research grants, including tribal research at the former Loring Air Force Base.
Did Susan Collins vote to protect drinking water from PFAS forever chemicals?
Susan Collins voted to confirm Lee Zeldin, whose EPA proposed in May 2026 to drop federal drinking-water limits for four PFAS chemicals; that proposal is not yet final, and the 2024 limits remain on the books for now. In May 2025 his agency also terminated PFAS research grants in Maine, restored two of the three a month later, and Maine Morning Star reported the agency gave no explanation for either step.
What did Susan Collins vote for on toxic air pollution?
Susan Collins voted yes on May 1, 2025 on S.J.Res. 31, which passed 52-46 and repealed EPA's 2024 Once In Always In rule. Under the repeal, a major source can reclassify as an area source if it cuts its emissions below the threshold, so plants that emit large amounts of hazardous air pollutants can leave the strictest federal controls.
Last updated: 2026-10-25