American Lung Association: EPA’s Failure to Clean Up Gas-Fired Power Plants Will Harm Children, Older Adults and People with Lung Disease

Yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule that weakens pollution controls for stationary turbines like those used in gas-fired power plants. In response to the new rule, American Lung Association President and CEO Harold Wimmer issued the following statement:

“The American Lung Association is disappointed that the EPA didn’t take the opportunity to modernize and clean up gas-fired power plants. This new rule falls short of the protections offered by the original proposal, which focused on reducing smog-forming emissions through the use of widely available, modern pollution controls.

“It’s discouraging to see the EPA and clean air regulators issue an air pollution rule that ignores health benefits and focuses on cost savings for polluting sources. The EPA has finalized a rule that’s weaker than their earlier proposal and ignores the health benefits of clean air in its economic analysis.

“The originally proposed rule was estimated to generate between $200-640 million in health benefits due to reduced emissions. The final rule completely omits a health benefit calculation, focusing solely on industrial cost savings of avoided pollution controls. This is a disheartening missed opportunity to clean up air pollution and protect people most impacted by unhealthy air like children, older adults and people with lung disease.”