Here's some good news: the
Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a new rule that would make
coal-fired power plant operators clean up their act. It would block up to 123
billion pounds of carbon pollution annually from entering our skies by limiting
emissions from next-generation power plants.
This new rule is a big deal.
It's the first time that the EPA has moved to limit the carbon pollution spewed
from power plants. Spurred by the 2007 Supreme Court decision that affirmed the
EPA's duty to uphold the Clean Air Act, the rule will revolutionize the design
of new U.S.
power plants.
This rule would finally make
the owners of coal-fired power plants stop polluting our air and water, which
makes us sick.
According to Physicians for Social Responsibility, coal
pollutants "affect all major organ systems and contribute to four of the
five leading causes of mortality in the U.S. : heart disease, cancer,
stroke, and chronic lower respiratory diseases."
In fact, a 2009 report from the National Research Council of
the National Academy of Sciences found that coal-fired power plants were
responsible for about $62 billion in health care costs annually. Moving
forward, power companies must begin to bear those costs themselves, or find a
cleaner way of doing business.
That's one of the reasons why many health care organizations
have joined environmental advocates like the Sierra Club and National Resources
Defense Council in supporting the EPA's new rule. The American Academy
of Pediatrics, the American Lung Association, the American Medical Association,
the American Nurses Association, and the American Public Health Association are
all big supporters.
Yet many conservatives in
Congress have banded together with coal companies and their lobbyists to fight
against this rule.
The "EPA continues to
overstep its authority and ram through a series of overreaching regulations in
its attacks on America 's
power sector," said Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), chairman of the House Energy
and Commerce Committee.
And, despite a lot of
"war on coal" hoopla, the rule places no new burdens on the coal
plants that are already operational. It applies only to new ones. Far from
ramming through the change, EPA's action comes nearly a year late. Originally
due to be released in July 2011, the rule was delayed by deliberations with the
White House.
The EPA invites public
comment on the rule — pro or con — through June 25. As of mid-May, the EPA had
received more than 1 million comments in favor of the new rule-change,
according to a coalition of groups supporting the change.
As EPA administrator Lisa
Jackson said when announcing the rule: "Right now there are no limits to
the amount of carbon pollution that future power plants will be able to put
into our skies. We're putting in place a standard that relies on the use of
clean, American-made technology to tackle a challenge that we can't leave to
our kids and grandkids."
She's right; please send
administrator Jackson and the EPA a message of support today.
Andrew Korfhage is Green America 's online and special
projects editor. www.greenamerica.org
To add your voice in favor of the rule, visit www.regulations.gov and follow the prompts for commenting.
Distributed via Otherwords (OtherWords.org)
To add your voice in favor of the rule, visit www.regulations.gov and follow the prompts for commenting.
Distributed via Otherwords (OtherWords.org)