Clean Air News

As the new home of NCPIRG's environmental work, Environment North Carolina can be contacted with any questions regarding this news release. 

RALEIGH—Today, NCPIRG (Public Interest Research Group) released a new study showing the health impacts on North Carolina residents caused by pollution from outdated coal-fired power plants—including those run by Duke Energy—that have been charged with violating the Clean Air Act.

According to the new report, Power to Kill, which is available at www.cleartheair.org, every year at least 400 North Carolina residents have their lives shortened by pollution from power plants charged with violating the Clean Air Act. At the same time, these plants trigger at least 8,000 asthma attacks. Power to Kill was written by the Clean Air Task Force and based on research by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) own consultants.

"The fact is that every single day, the pollution from plants run by Duke Energy and other companies like them is endangering our health," said Elizabeth Ouzts of NCPIRG. "For years, these plants have had the power to kill."

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed suit against 8 of Duke Energy's coal-fired power plants for violating a provision of the Clean Air Act called "New Source Review." Since then, the Bush administration has backtracked on its intent to enforce this aspect of the law, and has even proposed weakening the Clean Air Act altogether.

While the Bush administration is threatening to weaken clean air protections, state lawmakers are working to strengthen them. Senator Steve Metcalf and Representative Martin Nesbitt have introduced new legislation that will require 14 of the state's coal-fired power plants, including those operated by both Duke Energy and Progress Energy, to meet stricter emissions standards, reducing their pollution by over 70 percent.

The state's outdated 14 coal-fired power plants are several of the hundreds of coal-fired power plants in operation today that are decades old, and have avoided modern pollution controls because of a "grandfathering" loophole. These plants fail to meet modern pollution standards for smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) or for sulfur dioxide (SO2), which causes deadly fine particle pollution.

A key provision of the Clean Air Act says that if power companies upgrade their plants in a way that increases pollution, they must improve their pollution controls, too. However, Duke Energy and other power companies have allegedly ignored this provision, which is why the U.S. Department of Justice brought legal action to force them to clean up.

In North Carolina, if the EPA forced all of the power plants targeted in these lawsuits to end their illegal pollution, as many as 300 premature deaths and over 6,000 asthma attacks would be avoided each year. Pending "Clean Smokestacks" legislation, which targets both Duke Energy and Progress Energy plants, could save as many as 1,190 deaths and tens of thousands of asthma attacks.

"Clearly, Duke Energy shouldn't be breaking the law. But while allegations of their misconduct is settled in the courts, state lawmakers have the chance now to curb pollution from all the state's power plants," said Ouzts. "Lives are literally at stake, and we in North Carolina can't wait for an unresponsive federal administration to solve our air pollution problems.