Clean Air News

As the new home of RIPIRG's environmental work, Environment Rhode Island can be contacted regarding this news release.

Providence, RI-Most of the nation's oldest and dirtiest power plants are actually getting dirtier, not cleaner, according to a new report released April 4, 2002 by the Clear the Air Campaign. "Darkening Skies: Trends Toward Increasing Power Plant Emissions" comes just weeks after the release of the Bush Administration's highly-touted "Clear Skies" power plant initiative - and demonstrates significant inherent flaws in the President's approach.

"Power plants across the country have become dramatically dirtier, emitting tens of thousands of tons more of soot-forming sulfur dioxide, smog-forming nitrogen oxides, and CO2, the leading cause of global warming, in 2000 than in 1995," said Kate Canada, Advocate for Rhode Island PIRG. "This pollution causes serious health problems, triggering asthma attacks, heart attacks, and even causing the premature death of 88 people from Rhode Island annually," Canada continued.

"This report confirms what we have been saying for a long time," stated Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island Attorney General. "It confirms what we said when we filed the lawsuit against the power companies, it confirms what we said when we sent letters to Vice President Cheney and Attorney General Ashcroft, it confirms what we said when we met with EPA Administrator Whitman - our air is getting worse not better. Our air is getting dirtier, not cleaner and our laws should be getting tougher, not weaker," Attorney General Whitehouse continued.

According to the new report, hundreds of power plants emit more pollution today than just a few years ago, many increasing by thousands of tons per year. This is despite the Clean Air Act's "Acid Rain" program, which has been in place for a decade and is frequently hailed as a great success.

Though the Acid Rain program has resulted in pollution cuts on a nationwide scale, its "cap and trade" approach allows individual plants to increase emissions if they buy "pollution credits" from other plants that have cut their emissions more deeply than required. Such increases can have dramatic public health and environmental impacts on the communities adjacent to those power plants. Instead of crafting a plan that would make every power plant clean up and thus avoid these "hotspots," the Bush plan would actually expand the concept of "cap and trade" to include mercury, a toxic pollutant.

By analyzing Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions data from 1995 and 2000, "Darkening Skies" finds that:

· 300 of the 500 dirtiest power plants increased their emissions of sulfur dioxide, the pollution that forms "fine particle" soot and causes asthma attacks, heart disease and even death. New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association earlier this month shows that this pollution may also cause lung cancer.
· 263 of the 500 dirtiest power plants increased their emissions of nitrogen oxides, the pollution that forms ozone smog and can trigger asthma attacks. New research published last month shows that this pollution may actually cause asthma in athletic children.

"Rhode Island, and the rest of the Northeast, is at the tailpipe of the nation, and receives a significant portion of pollution from power plants in the Southeast and Midwest. In order to have cleaner air in Rhode Island, these polluting plants must be cleaned," stated Arthur Handy, Communications Director for the American Lung Association of Rhode Island. "The Clear Skies Program may allow these plants to continue their history of increased pollution, and in turn, increase the threat of asthma attacks and premature deaths in Rhode Island, not to mention the rest of New England," Handy continued.

Many of the plants that increased emissions most were located in places that can least afford pollution increases - areas that are not meeting the 1997 national health standards for fine particles and ozone "smog." For example:

Ø Both Kent and Washington counties in Rhode Island are not meeting the 1997 ozone (smog) standard. Nitrogen oxides form smog and increased NOx from power plants throughout the country will make it even more difficult to meet the health standards

"The lesson in this data is that we cannot rely on pollution caps to ensure pollution reductions where they are needed most, where people are suffering most from smog and soot in the air," said Canada. "The answer is to combine caps with modern pollution standards for all plants, and to step up enforcement of current Clean Air Act rules," she continued.

Finally, the report finds that the absence of mandatory limits on carbon dioxide has resulted in a sharp rise in total emissions of the gas, which forms a heat-trapping blanket in the atmosphere that leads to global warming. In fact, the 500 most polluting power plants increased carbon dioxide emissions by thirteen percent in the six years studied. The state of Texas had far and away the largest net CO2 increase from its power plants, which collectively emitted 37 million tons more CO2 in 2000 than in 1995. In Rhode Island, Manchester Street Station had the greatest increase in CO2 emissions, over 716,000 tons.

"It has never been so clear that we need a serious plan to curb power plant pollution, to protect the communities left out in the cold by the current law," stated Sheila Dormody, RI Director of Clean Water Action. "Such a plan exists: the Jeffords-Lieberman Clean Power Act (S. 556) in the Senate, and the Waxman-Boehlert Clean Smokestacks Act (S. 1256) in the House. We know what we need to do to clean up power plants, and we have the technology to do it. Now our elected leaders need to act. We're calling on Senator Chafee and Senator Reed to continue their strong support of the Clean Power Act and to oppose Administration-backed rollbacks of the Clean Air Act," Dormody concluded.

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Clean Water Action is a citizens' environmental lobby organization with 10,000 members in the state of Rhode Island

American Lung Association of Rhode Island fights bad air, big tobacco and the asthma epidemic through education, advocacy and research