Jonathon Berman, jonathon.berman@sierraclub.org
Vance’s Assault on Clean Air Safeguards Come as Southeastern Ohio Plant Kills 240+ Americans Every Year
WASHINGTON, DC – Donald Trump’s new running mate JD Vance counts the Blackstone Group as one of his top campaign donors – the same private equity firm that owns and operates the General James M. Gavin Power Plant in southeastern Ohio that has earned the title of “America’s deadliest coal plant.”
The Gavin coal plant causes an estimated 244 premature deaths a year, earning it the dishonorable distinction as the deadliest plant in the country. The plant is so dirty that its former owner was required to buy out a whole town after residents complained about the blue smoke plumes full of sulphuric acid that engulfed the area. Gavin’s flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) SO2 scrubbers are outdated now at 30 years old, and based on its continued pollution seem to be inadequate at protecting the health and wellbeing of the region. Pollution from the Gavin plant generally travels east. It is one of the top contributors of haze in Shenandoah National Park and nearly 80% of the deaths caused by Gavin are outside of Ohio.
The Blackstone Group acquired Gavin in 2016. Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman has publicly endorsed Trump and reportedly gave a Trump-aligned super PAC $3 million in 2020.
They are now among the top ten donors to Vance in his short Senate career – a career marked by climate change denial and repeated attacks on clean air safeguards that could crack down on the deadly pollution from Gavin even as it pollutes and kills Ohioans and people in neighboring states.
Sierra Club National Political Director Sarah Burton released the following statement:
“Anyone who wants a sneak preview of a Trump-Vance administration needs to look no further than the Gavin coal plant – a deadly disaster kept afloat to benefit Wall Street billionaires even as it makes everyone else sick. Gavin is the deadliest coal plant in America that has killed hundreds of Americans, but JD Vance spent his time in the Senate attacking safeguards that would clean it up while collecting checks directly from the plant’s owner. Vance, Trump, and their Wall Street allies have proven over and over again that their priorities are with corporate polluters, not the people.”
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Paid for by Sierra Club Independent Action, www.sierraclubindependentaction.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. |
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