Larisa Manescu, larisa.manescu@sierraclub.org
Washington, DC – A new report released today by the Rhodium Group outlines the significant climate and health benefits of the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently finalized standard targeting pollution from the coal industry.
In April, EPA announced one of the most significant measures to reduce climate-disrupting emissions from the power sector, driving near-term retirements of uneconomic coal plants and slowing the buildout of new gas power plants. Prior to now, there have been no federal limits on carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants and no meaningful limits for new sources. In 2035 alone, the standards would prevent approximately 1,200 premature deaths and more than 870 hospital and emergency room visits.
According to Rhodium’s report, without the EPA’s new standard in effect, unabated coal capacity would decline to no more than 62 megawatts in 2035, and coal with carbon capture would decline to nine megawatts or less in the same period. But with the EPA's rule on existing coal plants in effect, both unabated coal and coal with carbon capture would each decrease to no more than 11 megawatts of capacity by 2035. This would prevent an estimated 241 million metric tons of carbon pollution entering the atmosphere by 2035. Rhodium also projected major decreases in air pollutants from the EPA rule, with sulfur dioxide emissions down 94 percent and nitrogen oxide emissions down 85 percent.
Since its founding in 2009, the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign has helped secure the retirements of more than 380 coal plants in the United States, resulting in more than 54,000 lives saved, 84,000 heart attacks prevented, 892,000 asthma attacks prevented, and $25 billion in health care costs saved.
In response, Ben Jealous, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, released the following statement:
“This analysis shows that the historic EPA standards finalized this spring are the nail in the coffin for dirty coal in the United States. For decades, the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign has worked tirelessly to fight deadly pollution from the coal industry—securing the retirement of 383 coal plants and counting—in order to make the transition to clean energy and protect the health of our families and our future. The results are paying off in one of the most important metrics there is: lives saved.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.