New study finds Tennessee third in nation for deaths from power plant pollution

New study finds Tennessee third in nation

for deaths from power plant pollution

KNOXVILLE -- Fine particle pollution caused by coal-fired power plants causes over 20,900 asthma attacks, 1,250 non-fatal heart attacks, and 950 premature deaths each year in Tennessee, according to a new Clear the Air report, Dirty Air Dirty Power, released today by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and the American Lung Association of Tennessee. In addition to the report, Clear the Air also launched www.cleartheair.org/dirtypower, a related interactive website that provides emissions and health effects data by individual power plant, city, and state. According to the study, Tennessee ranks third in the nation for per capita deaths from power plant pollution, with Kingsport, Bristol, Morristown, and Knoxville all ranked in the top 20 for cities.

Requiring the nation's aging fleet of power plants to use modern pollution controls would prevent the vast majority of the health effects from power plant pollution. "Although TVA has made commitments to put pollution controls on more of their units by 2010, they are not going far enough, fast enough to protect the health and lives of many Tennesseans," stated Valerie True, Clean Air Program Coordinator for Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "We need urgent federal action to address these serious pollution problems."

In July of 2003, Tennessee's Senator Lamar Alexander (R) took a landmark step forward to endorse national four-pollutant legislation sponsored by Senator Tom Carper of Delaware. While clean air advocates applaud Senator Alexander for taking this leadership role, they note the need for more action from Senator Frist and other Southeast decision makers to secure the necessary national pollution reduction requirements causing these massive health effects to Tennesseans.

"The Bush administration knows how to solve this problem," said Clear the Air Director Angela Ledford. "But instead of working toward cleaner, healthier air, they are allowing the polluters to rewrite the rules, weaken current law, and pass it off as progress," she continued. Nationally, fine particle pollution from power plants causes 38,200 heart attacks and 23,600 premature deaths each year, which exceeds the annual death toll from drunk driving (17,000) or homicides (20,000).

Dirty Air, Dirty Power is based on an analysis by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) own air quality consultants using EPA standard methodology. Fine particles, such as those that result from power plant sulfur dioxide emissions, can bypass the defensive mechanisms of the lung where they can cause a variety of health problems. The latest evidence indicates that short-term exposure not only causes respiratory damage, but also causes cardiac effects, including increasing the risk of heart attacks.

"The Clean Air Act was set up to protect the American people, but instead of enforcing the laws we have on the books, the administration wants to create weaker laws that would allow 4,000 more premature deaths than if EPA simply enforced the Clean Air Act," said Brenda Black, Director of Tobacco and Air Quality Programs for The American Lung Association of Tennessee. "The Administration's decision to ignore the Clean Air Act has resulted in too many asthma attacks, too many avoidable emergency room visits, too many lost work days, and too many lives cut short. If ever there was a time to stand up and demand action, it is now."

The report and website compare the premature deaths that would result under the Bush administration's air pollution plan, the existing Clean Air Act, and a bipartisan proposal sponsored by Senator Jim Jeffords to strengthen the Clean Air Act. In addition, the interactive website allows users to see how much smog, soot, global warming pollution and toxic mercury is being emitted in their state and by each power plant. According to the website, in 2002 TVA's Tennessee power plants emitted 333,576 tons of sulfur dioxide, which is the precursor to fine particle pollution.

In December 2004 EPA must designate nonattainment areas for areas that do not meet the health standard for fine particulate matter, much as they did for ozone. Four of our five metropolitan areas in the state will likely be designated as nonattainment for the fine particulate matter standard.

"Tennessee cities have some of the highest death rates per capita in the U.S. from power plants and that is just unacceptable," stated Ms. True. "Power plant pollution is an issue that we have to deal with to protect our families and children; the sooner we do, the healthier Tennesseans will be."