Current Events > New EPA coal pollution rules could result in 1,400 premature deaths per year

(+) Yeah! (+)

That figure is according to *checks notes* the EPA
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/21/climate/epa-coal-pollution-deaths.html

The Trump administration on Tuesday made public the details of its new pollution rules governing coal-burning power plants, and the fine print includes an acknowledgment that the plan would increase carbon emissions and lead to up to 1,400 premature deaths annually.

The proposal, the Affordable Clean Energy rule, is a replacement for the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which was an aggressive effort to speed up the closures of coal-burning plants, one of the main producers of greenhouse gases, by setting national targets for cutting carbon dioxide emissions and encouraging utilities to use cleaner energy sources like wind and solar. The new proposal, issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, instead seeks to make minor on-site efficiency improvements at individual plants and will also let states relax pollution rules for power plants that need upgrades, keeping them active longer.

Trump administration officials say the Clean Power Plan illegally tried to force electric utilities to use greener energy sources in order to reduce carbon emissions. The new plan, they said, achieves much of the benefits sought by the Obama administration but in a way that is legal and allows states greater flexibility.

Todays proposal provides the states and regulated community the certainty they need to continue environmental progress while fulfilling President Trumps goal of energy dominance, Andrew Wheeler, the acting administrator of the E.P.A., said in a statement Tuesday.

However, the hundreds of pages of technical analysis that accompanies the new proposal indicate that emissions will grow.

Compared to the Obama-era plan, it says, implementing the proposed rule is expected to increase emissions of carbon dioxide and the level of emissions of certain pollutants in the atmosphere that adversely affect human health.

The analysis also includes a section called foregone climate and human health benefits. That is, instead of listing the health gains of the Trump plan preventing premature deaths, for example, or avoiding a certain number of increased emergency room visits from asthma attacks it is instead describing the effect of the Trump plan as benefits lost.

The proposal lays out several possible models for the ways that individual states might approach regulating coal-fired power plants, and what the consequences would be for pollution and human health. In a the scenario the E.P.A. has pegged as the most likely to occur, the health effects would be significant.

In that scenario, the Trump E.P.A. predicts its plan will see between 470 and 1,400 premature deaths annually by 2030 because of increased rates of microscopic airborne particulates known as PM 2.5, which are dangerous because of their link to heart and lung disease as well as its ability to trigger chronic problems like asthma and bronchitis.

By contrast, the Obama administrations central argument for its Clean Power Plan was that it protected human health as well as the climate. Specifically, it said, it would help avoid between 1,500 and 3,600 premature deaths annually by 2030.
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By contrast Mr. Trumps analysis finds its plan would see 48,000 new cases of exacerbated asthma and at least 21,000 new missed days of school annually by 2030 because those pollutants would increase in the atmosphere rather than decrease.

With the Trump dirty power plan we see again that the Trump administration cares more about extending the lives of coal plants than the American people, said Conrad Schneider, advocacy director of the environmental nonprofit group Clean Air Task Force, an environmental nonprofit group.

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But it's clean coal
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But jobs
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the GOP: clinging to relics of the past since <insert some date here>
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Remember that topic I made about Republicans not caring?

Giant_Aspirin posted...

the GOP: clinging to relics of the past since <insert some date here>

giant_asprin: "b-b-but compromise the gop can be reasoned with111!!!!!"

shockthemonkey posted...

But theres no difference between Trump and Hillary!

Of course there is. Hillary would pass a breathing tax.
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SmidgeIsntBack posted...

But jobs

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Yet he had the audacity to criticize wind turbines for bird fatalities lmao
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This is Trump's solution to abortion.
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What happened to the slurpers

P4wn4g3 posted...

This is Trump's solution to abortion.

they've never had a problem with people dying after birth.
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Rexdragon125 posted...

What happened to the slurpers

Too busy getting grabbed by pussy and letting it happen like the bitches they are.
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1,400 wow, not even a drop to the tens of millions of pre-mature deaths that socialism alone causes.
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Amatsukaze posted...

1,400 wow, not even a drop to the tens of millions of pre-mature deaths that socialism alone causes.

Imagine using the most braindead deflections possible.
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I still question whether companies are actually going to follow these knowing they're going to be immediately overturned when the Democrats regain control.
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"Obama saved lives? Well I have to take those lives back then!" - Trump probably.
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shockthemonkey posted...

Bio1590 posted...

I still question whether companies are actually going to follow these knowing they're going to be immediately overturned when the Democrats regain control.

I fucking hope not

Money is king and companies are constantly looking 5-10 years out. You can't tell me companies are going to spend millions to change what's been put in place knowing they're going to have to be redone in the near future.
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fenderbender321 posted...

fenderbender321 posted...

How premature? Are we talking 10 or 20 years? Just a few weeks?

Yes
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Wtf we love the EPA now
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ScazarMeltex posted...

Bio1590 posted...

shockthemonkey posted...

Bio1590 posted...

I still question whether companies are actually going to follow these knowing they're going to be immediately overturned when the Democrats regain control.

I fucking hope not

Money is king and companies are constantly looking 5-10 years out. You can't tell me companies are going to spend millions to change what's been put in place knowing they're going to have to be redone in the near future.

Most companies look no further than their next two quarterly reports.

Not for things like "hey should we spend the money to change the filter on this?"
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