EPA Rolls Back Carbon Pollution Standards for Power Plants that Would Have Prevented Thousands of Deaths

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a final rule that will roll back requirements to reduce emissions of carbon pollution from new gas-fired power plants and existing coal-fired power plants. EPA concurrently announced a proposal to try and prevent future carbon emissions limits on power plants entirely. In response, the American Lung Association’s President and CEO Harold Wimmer issued the following statement:
 
“Eliminating the rule to clean up carbon pollution from coal- and gas-burning power plants will harm the health of families across the U.S. These rules would have not only significantly reduced carbon pollution that causes climate change but also reduced other dangerous emissions at the same time.

“EPA not only has the statutory authority to regulate emissions from power plants, it has the legal responsibility to address climate change. EPA’s concurrent proposal attempting to absolve the agency from that responsibility will leave lung health at greater risk.

“Carbon pollution from power plants is a major driver of climate change. Climate change is a health emergency. To avoid the most catastrophic impacts, carbon pollution must be greatly reduced through clear, effective action. The rule that was reversed today would have cut more than a billion metric tons of carbon pollution over two decades. It would have also resulted in other immediate health benefits, including by reducing emissions of harmful oxides of nitrogen, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter from coal-fired power plants and making sure future gas-fired power plants were less polluting. The rule would have prevented 1,200 premature deaths in 2035.

“EPA’s final rule does not quantify the health harms associated with the rollback, but the additional asthma attacks and premature deaths that the standards would have prevented are real. And the proposal to try to prevent any future actions reducing carbon pollution from power plants continues a dangerous pattern of EPA actions that don’t further its mission to protect human health and the environment.

“In addition, the public broadly supports these standards. A Lung Association poll found that 76% of voters support setting stricter limits on carbon emissions from new and existing power plants. Majorities were in support across party and ideological lines. 

“The American Lung Association stands for science, for health and for the protection of families across America. These standards, as well as many of the other rules being rolled back in the last year, are critical to the prevention of chronic disease and to improving the health of everyone in the U.S.”