The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set up a portal allowing polluters to request exemptions to nine Clean Air Act rules.  The Clean Air Act allows the president to exempt polluters from complying with regulations if he determines that the rules are based on technology that does not ye t exist.  The EPA posted online this week that it had set up an email address allowing companies to more easily request such presidential exemptions. The news comes after the EPA recently announced that it planned to roll back a large suite of Biden-era rules, including limits on mercury pollution from power plants and limits on emissions of cancer-causing ethylene oxide. Presidential exemptions could be a way to curtail rules like these while the lengthy legal and regulatory process plays out to formally overturn them.  The EPA’s notice said that requesting an exemption does not necessarily mean a company will get one and that President Trump will make a decision “on the merits.” The New York Times first reported on the EPA’s portal. Asked about the notice, an EPA spokesperson pointed out that the Biden administration had previously said it would consider exempting facilities from the ethylene oxide rule to prevent disruptions to supply chains for medical devices. The nine rules in question set limits on pollution from industries including sterilizers, iron and steel manufacturing, copper smelting, chemical manufacturing and coal plants.  The notice comes after President Trump said last week that he plans to bolster coal power.  Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, told The Hill she views the notice as an "invitation" for companies to pollute. "This is just a reckless invitation to hundreds of industrial emitters of toxic pollution to discharge hazardous contaminants into our communities and neighborhoods," Patton said. "It puts millions of people in harm's way." "I've never seen anything like it in my career," she added.  Updated at 1:22 p.m. EDT ...read more read less