Photo courtesy of GAO
On Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency heard testimony on one of the most important public health standards of our time: regulating hazardous air pollution from power plants. Many Sierra Club supporters and allies testified that they support the EPA’s proposal to restore the legal finding that this regulation is “appropriate and necessary.”
The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), finalized by President Obama in 2012 as the first ever standard set to control mercury pollution from coal plants, limited hazardous pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants, targeting pollutants like mercury, arsenic, hydrochloric acid, and a variety of other air toxics that are especially harmful to infants, pregnant women, and the elderly. In 2020, the Trump administration finalized a rule to weaken MATS.
It is still unthinkable that toxic and hazardous air pollution from coal power plants was essentially unregulated until 2012. At that time, the EPA followed the sound and compelling scientific consensus that the reduction of hazardous air pollutants would save lives and prevent harm; and that the technology to achieve those reductions was readily available.
In its new proposal, the EPA notes that power plants are the largest source of hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride and selenium emissions, and are a major source of metallic hazardous air pollutant emissions including arsenic, chromium, nickel, and cobalt. Exposure to these hazardous air pollutants is associated with numerous health problems including lung and kidney damage.
Mercury has an impact on children and fetal brain development and it can have cardiovascular impacts on vulnerable populations. Mercury also has a disproportionate impact on low income communities and communities of color that already bear the disproportionate burden of increased air pollution.
The health benefits of MATS are clear – the EPA estimates that MATS protections would prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths, more than 130,000 asthma attacks, and more than 4,700 heart attacks each year. The standards would also prevent up to 3,100 ER visits for children with asthma. The value of those benefits to the public is estimated to be as high as $90 billion annually. That’s $90 billion of health benefits for a rule whose total cost is estimated to have been as little as $2 billion – dimes to dollars in positive health and monetary outcomes for the public.
It’s estimated these standards will eliminate the emissions of thousands of tons of particulate matter pollution each year. Since going into effect, MATS has reduced mercury emissions from power plants by 81 percent and many utilities have asked for them to remain in place. Yet despite the progress made to clean them up, power plants are still the nation’s largest emitter of mercury and many other hazardous air pollutants.
Medical experts, doctors and other health professionals, many of whom are at the forefront of studying the effects of mercury and other air pollutants on human health, have repeatedly told the EPA how important these standards are to protecting vulnerable and burdened populations, like pregnant women, children and seniors with ailments.
Much of the power plant industry also supports these standards. And numerous elected officials – from both sides of the aisle – have repeatedly stood up for these standards, knowing the benefits of clean, healthy air is strongly supported by the public.
The Sierra Club supports the EPA restoring the finding that Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are appropriate and necessary. The agency needs to fully clean up mercury and other toxic air pollution from power plants. We need the EPA to set even stronger limits to fully protect our families.
TAKE ACTION: Tell EPA to Reduce Mercury and Toxic Air Pollution from Power Plants!