Clean Air Reports
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Executive Summary
As the new home of NCPIRG's environmental work,
Environment North Carolina can be contacted with any questions regarding this report. Power plants are the nation’s
largest industrial source of air pollution, fueling global warming and causing
other serious public health and environmental problems. This report examines
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data on power plant emissions of
carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) from 1995
to 2003 and finds that emissions are on the rise at many plants.
Environmental and Public Health Effects of Power Plant Pollution
Many of the nation’s power plants were built decades ago and use few, if any,
modern pollution controls. As a result, power plants release 39 percent of CO2
emissions, the leading global warming pollutant, 67 percent of soot-forming
SO2 emissions, 22 percent of smog-forming NOx emissions, and 41 percent of mercury
emissions. These pollutants contribute to serious environmental and public health
problems:
Global Warming: Carbon dioxide from power plants traps heat in the Earth’s
atmosphere, warming the planet. The 1990s were the hottest decade on record,
and 2004 was one of the warmest years ever, according to the United Nations.
The effects of global warming, such as extensive melting of glaciers and sea
ice in the Arctic and the 2003 heat wave in Europe where thousands died, are
already evident in the U.S. and worldwide.
Asthma: Fine particle soot and ozone smog from power plants are respiratory
irritants that trigger asthma attacks and contribute to other respiratory problems.
Heart Attacks, Lung Disease, and Early Death: The fine particles in soot
from power plants can bypass respiratory defenses and lodge deep in the lungs,
resulting in cardiovascular and respiratory problems that cut short the lives
of tens of thousands of Americans every year. Short-term exposure to ozone smog
also is associated with increases in mortality.
Learning Disabilities: Mercury from power plants deposits in fresh and
ocean waters and accumulates in the tissue of commonly eaten fish, such as tuna.
Pregnant women who eat mercury-contaminated fish can put their children at risk
of learning disabilities, developmental delays, and other serious problems.
EPA scientists estimate that one in six U.S. women of childbearing age has elevated
levels of mercury in her body.
Findings: Power Plant Pollution on the Rise
To identify trends in power plant pollution, this report analyzes CO2, SO2,
and NOx emissions data from EPA’s acid rain database since 1995, the first year
the Clean Air Act capped SO2 emissions from the electricity-generating sector.
Comparable data on mercury emissions are not available. Key findings and major
lessons learned include the following:
In the absence of mandatory limits on carbon dioxide, power plant CO2 emissions
continue to rise.
Currently, there are no federal limits on CO2 emissions; instead, the federal
government relies on voluntary partnerships with industry to reduce emissions.
As a result, CO2 emissions from power plants continue to climb in the U.S.
- Annual CO2 emissions from power plants increased by nine percent nationwide
from 1995 to 2003, with increases at 59 percent of the nation’s dirtiest plants.
The 206 million ton increase in annual emissions is equivalent to adding 36
million average cars to the roads.
Lesson 1: A mandatory limit on CO2 is necessary to reduce global warming
emissions from power plants; we cannot continue to rely on voluntary measures.
Federal caps on soot- and smog-forming emissions are not enough to ensure all
communities breathe healthy air.
Federal law and regional initiatives cap SO2 and NOx emissions from power plants
but allow dirtier plants to buy pollution “credits” rather than clean up. As
a result, communities living in the shadows and downwind of these polluting
power plants are actually breathing dirtier air.
- More than half (54 percent) of the nation’s dirtiest power plants increased
their annual soot-forming SO2 emissions from 1995 to 2003, even while annual
SO2 emissions from power plants decreased by 10 percent nationwide; and
- Thirty-eight (38) percent of the nation’s dirtiest power plants increased
their annual smog-forming NOx emissions from 1995 to 2003, even while annual
NOx emissions from power plants declined by 29 percent nationwide.
Lesson 2: National pollution caps often fail to address localized pollution
problems and must work hand-in-hand with other clean air safeguards, such as
the New Source Review program, which ensures that older plants eventually meet
modern emissions standards.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Power plant emissions of CO2 will continue to increase unless federal policymakers
cap global warming emissions, but national caps on SO2 and NOx alone are not
enough to protect the health of local communities.
Tighter national caps on SO2 and NOx should be accompanied by rigorous enforcement
of New Source Review and other Clean Air Act programs that ensure that every
plant installs modern pollution controls. Unfortunately, the Bush administration
is working to delay and dilute SO2 and NOx reductions called for in the Clean
Air Act, repeal New Source Review for power plants, and repeal or significantly
weaken other plant-specific clean air programs to rely instead on pollution
caps, while ignoring global warming altogether. These policies will prolong
and exacerbate illness and suffering from air pollution.
Instead, EPA and federal and state lawmakers should:
- Enforce existing Clean Air Act programs, including New Source Review, designed
to ensure that every community has healthy air;
- As a first step, pass a national cap that limits CO2 emissions economy-wide
to 2000 levels by 2010;
- Strengthen and finalize EPA’s proposed Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) to
cap SO2 and NOx emissions from power plants in the eastern U.S. at 1.8 million
tons and 1 million tons, respectively, by the end of the decade, as the law
requires; and
- Strengthen the Clean Air Act’s existing programs to further reduce all four
major power plant pollutants.
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