Are you one of the over 800,000 people who submitted a comment to the Environmental Protection Agency supporting proposed mercury pollution protections? Are you one of the hundreds who attended a public hearing in Chicago, Atlanta, or Philadelphia to support the draft standards? Are you one of the hundreds who attended a hair testing event to check your mercury levels, organized a stroller brigade with fellow parents, or joined a rally to get these protections across the finish line?

If so, then today you should celebrate, because you helped win a historic victory for our health. Today we are all applauding the EPA and the Obama Administration for issuing the first-ever nationwide protections against toxic mercury from dirty power plants. Hundreds of thousands of Americans spoke up for these vital safeguards via public comments, rallies, hearings, mercury teach-ins, and so much more. This is an epic victory we can all call our own.

No longer will the coal industry get away with poisoning our families. Mercury is a dangerous brain poison that can hinder children’s growth and development and cause neurological problems in young children.  Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of mercury pollution in the United States, pumping more than 33 tons of this dangerous toxin into our air each year, and seeping into our water and the fish we eat.

As I reflect on this remarkable achievement, I also find myself thinking about the day I learned I was pregnant with my daughter Hazel, who is now one-and-a-half. It was a miraculous feeling, knowing that I was bringing a baby into the world. I pledged to eat right, exercise, and take care of myself, so that I could give her the best possible start in life. I also hoped I hadn’t eaten too much fish high in mercury in the months prior to getting pregnant, since I knew I would be passing all that mercury to my baby in the womb. Thankfully, my mercury levels were low and Hazel is a happy, healthy toddler.

With these new protections in place, moms and dads of the future may have one less thing to worry about. Women and young children will be protected by these new safeguards – a critical move because each and every year, more than 300,000 babies are born who have been exposed to dangerous levels of mercury in the womb. These protections against toxic mercury will slash mercury pollution by over 90 percent from every single coal plant in America, and will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of women and young children.

This historic announcement comes after more than two years of amazing grassroots work to raise awareness about mercury pollution and show support for mercury protections. I think of all the people who held or participated in mercury hair testing events, got postcards signed, attended or organized around a hearing, held or attended any of the dozens of other mercury awareness events organized nationwide, or submitted one of the more than 800,000 supportive comments received by EPA – the largest number of comments ever submitted to EPA on any issue.

Congress required reductions of mercury and other air toxics from power plants way back in 1990, when they passed amendments to the Clean Air Act, but the coal industry had succeeded in blocking the standards for over two decades. Now, the wait is over, and these long-overdue protections are finally in place.

I hope everyone will join me in thanking President Obama and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson for listening to Americans and for their leadership and courage in issuing these mercury protections. We are thrilled with today’s announcement – a historic victory for clean air, clean water, and healthy families. Congratulations to one and all!

Why should you care about the Cross State Air Pollution Rule? Because it could save your life, or the life of someone you love. Congress is continuing its attacks on clean air this week, and the latest target in their cross-hairs is the life-saving Cross State Air Pollution Rule.

This clean air safeguard would require 27 states in the eastern half of the United States to improve air quality by addressing dangerous pollution from coal-fired power plants that crosses state lines. It is an update of a system that has been in place in the eastern US for decades and has successfully – and cost-effectively – cleaned up some of our worst sources of air pollution.

Unfortunately, some dirty coal plants have still not cleaned up, which is why these new protections are critical for improving our health. Coal utilities have known this update was coming for years, and they have had plenty of time to prepare.

Now Senator Rand Paul is hoping to void this public health protection through a Congressional Review Act resolution (S.J. Res. 27), a fancy piece of Congressional maneuvering that would stop these much-needed, common-sense protections in their tracks. It is likely to come up for a vote on Thursday (Nov. 10).

The Cross State safeguard is estimated to provide $120 to $280 billion in annual benefits for the US, and is forecast to prevent up to 34,000 premature deaths, 15,000 nonfatal heart attacks and 400,000 cases of aggravated asthma every year.

We don’t have to choose between public health and jobs. That’s a false choice, as the White House pointed out yesterday in their blog about this emerging threat.

The excuses of the Cross State Air Pollution Rule opponents are nothing more than thinly-veiled attempts to hide their intentions of sacrificing public and environmental health in the name of enriching and protecting generous corporate polluters. Thankfully, President Obama has said he will veto this measure if it reaches his desk. (PDF)

Senator Paul’s resolution would pick winners and losers among utility companies – those that have spent money to clean up pollution while this protection was in the making would lose out, while those that disregarded forthcoming laws and kept polluting would win.

Senator Paul’s resolution would be disastrous for our health, our air and the economy. The Cross State Air Pollution Rule is a much needed, long-overdue safeguard and any attempt to block or delay implementation should be opposed.

Congress needs to get out of the way and let the Environmental Protection Agency do its job. This week EPA also sent its planned mercury and carbon pollution safeguards to the Office of Management and Budget for final approval.

The EPA and Administrator Lisa Jackson are trying to protect our health and the environment.  Americans want clean air and water. These new protections will save money and save lives. So why does Congress keep trying to block public health safeguards?

Contact your Senator and tell them to defend the Cross State Air Pollution Rule.

How many more coal ash spills need to happen before Americans are protected by coal ash safeguards? The latest happened Monday in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, at the We Energies Oak Creek Power Plant.

Thankfully there were no injuries when “(a) large section of bluff collapsed Monday next to the We Energies Oak Creek Power Plant, sending dirt, coal ash and mud cascading into the shoreline next to Lake Michigan and dumping a pickup truck, dredging equipment, soil and other debris into the lake.”

The ridge was made of coal ash, and a We Energies spokesperson said some coal ash did spill into Lake Michigan. The photos of the site are sad, and they also make me angry.

In 2008’s Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash disaster, we witnessed first-hand how a lack of strong national protections leaves the job of handling coal ash with state regulators who lack the will and ability to protect communities from coal ash.  

And since the TVA disaster, the industry has been lobbying hard to block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from establishing new protections, arguing, they say, that states are doing a fine job regulating coal ash. As a result, communities across the nation remain at risk and unprotected.  

Just two weeks ago the industry successfully lobbied the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill stripping the EPA of the authority to protect Americans from coal ash. 

Monday’s collapse on Lake Michigan is particularly troublesome because We Energies has known for years that its management of coal ash at this facility was a threat to human health. Indeed, they have been providing bottled water to neighbors whose wells have been contaminated.

This Great Lakes collapse is a tragic reminder of why the status quo is not good enough. As long as Congress interferes, spills – some deadly – are going to happen, and dozens of communities are at risk. Congress needs to back off, and the EPA needs to finalize strong protections.

Monday’s Lake Michigan coal ash collapse shows that states are not protecting our health and our environment from cancer-causing coal ash, and as long as EPA fails to act, there will be more coal ash destruction.

Weight of the world got you down? Stressed out by visions of exploding mountains, warming planets, and mounting to-do lists? Me too. Thankfully, I had a major ray of hope recently that I would love to share with you, in the hopes that it will lift your spirits as much as it lifted mine. Yesterday, I had the great privilege of joining 30 youth clean energy leaders when they met with Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson at Howard University in Washington, DC.

These students had come to DC as a culminating event in their campaign to hold 100 clean energy events at their colleges and universities in the month of October. From flash mobs to press conferences, these youth leaders have been working overtime to send a clear message – they want their campuses to move beyond coal, to 100% clean energy. Like me, many of these student’s cited the devastation caused mountaintop removal coal mining as their first motivation for getting involved in helping move the nation beyond coal.

They’ve been making headlines and making a difference, and now they were bringing their message to the nation’s top environmental official.

Administrator Lisa Jackson gave the students a warm reception. She talked to them about some of the accomplishments she’s most proud of, including stronger mileage standards for cars and trucks, and reducing air pollution from coal-fired power plants across the eastern US.

She also talked about her big priorities moving forward, primarily finalizing long-overdue standards that will slash mercury pollution from our nation’s biggest source – you guessed it, coal-fired power plants. She also told the students that the basic environmental protections we all take for granted are under attack, and that it’s up to all of us to ensure we stop polluters from unraveling our basic clean air and water safeguards.

Yes, it was great to hear that these important health and safety protections are still a priority for the White House. What was even more inspiring were the stories of the students, who asked Jackson about youth engagement, the mercury standards, and the Keystone XL pipeline.

And after meeting with Jackson, the students went to a meeting at the White House. Here is how one student saw the day of action in Washington, DC:

Maura Friedman, University of Georgia.

Yesterday, 35 students from across the country, from the Midwest to the Southeast and everywhere in between, met with White House officials to discuss the work they’ve been doing within their campuses and communities and press administrators to stand with youth in their fight for public health.

Our first meeting was with Lisa Jackson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. She listened to the personal stories of students and took questions, confirming her commitment to those affected by pollution.

Addressing students working on Campuses Beyond Coal campaigns targeting on campus coal plants, Jackson said, “It’s not fair when colleges that are supposed to be teaching people are costing local children IQ points,” referring to mercury emissions.

At the White House, we met with Jon Carson, the Director of the Office of Public Engagement, and Ronnie Cho, White House Liaison to Young Americans. Students shared personal stories but also delved into the organizing we’ve engaged in to produce positive change.

Our exchanges were met with nods and notes; I felt heard. But I’m waiting to see if we were actually listened to – I’m waiting for action.

As a Southerner, I feel forgotten by environmental protections, but we’re on the frontline of the battle for public health. In Georgia alone there are 13 coal-fired plants, as well as two new proposed plants and a coal boiler on my campus at the University of Georgia.

Our health can’t wait for the politics of public health to work itself out – we’re sick from pollutants now. We need mercury safeguards from the EPA to curb the health costs of coal. The Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline needs to be rejected, lest we expose American families to oil spills and, in Lisa Jackson’s own words, cut the nation in half.

–

Thank you to these youth leaders for being such an effective, strategic, and tireless voice for clean energy, and for moving our nation beyond coal. The Sierra Club is proud to stand with you.

Photo by Javier Sierra. See more photos on the Sierra Club’s Flickr Page.

As a mom, I often take for granted that the water I put in my daughters sippy cup is safe, and the air that she breathes when she’s playing outside is cleaner than it was when I was a child. This is no accident – it’s the result of decades of enforcement of basic health and environmental safeguards. Unfortunately, it looks like we can’t take those protections for granted anymore.

Last week the House of Representatives continued its assault on public health and environmental protections by passing bills that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from doing its job. Yes, it’s hard to believe. But it’s even more astonishing that our representatives are taking these radical actions in the face of new polling information that shows overwhelming majorities of Americans support stronger health and environmental standards, and they also think Congress should back off and let EPA do its job.

First, the House passed legislation that would block critical protections against toxic mercury and other dangerous chemicals and metals emitted by industrial boilers, which are among the nation’s biggest and dirtiest sources of mercury pollution. Boilers exist in and around hospitals, schools and communities across the country, exposing Americans to toxic mercury pollution, a known brain poison that threatens the development of young children.

Then, as I detailed in my column last week, they passed a bill that would put a weak scheme in place that requires more protections on household trash than toxic coal ash, even though coal ash pollution includes health risks like cancer, neurological disorders, birth defects, reproductive failure, asthma and other serious illnesses.

Not only are House members not paying attention how important these critical protections are, but they are also not listening to Americans. Last week, Ceres released a poll showing that American voters overwhelmingly support two critical EPA rules that limit air pollution from electric power plants. Some (77%) support the stronger protections now in the works that would reduce emissions of mercury and other toxic air pollution from coal fired power plants.

Support for these those protections cross political boundaries – among Republicans, more than 3-in-5 support this air toxics rule. Voters also don’t buy into the notion that these rules will cost jobs and hurt the economy: 66% believe that the protections will promote both short-term and long-term job growth. Voters expect the EPA’s protections to have positive impacts on air quality (84%), people’s health (82%), and water quality (75%).

Now House members have their sights set on the Cross State Air Pollution safeguard, which would improve air quality for over 240 million Americans. It’s an update of commonsense protection that has been in place for years. These improvements to the standard are poised prevent up to 34,000 deaths and 400,000 cases of aggravated asthma, with a benefit to cost ratio of 350:1.

That same Ceres poll shows that 66% of Americans support the Cross State Air Pollution safeguard.

Another key finding: 75% say the EPA – not Congress – should determine air pollution standards.

It’s time for Congress to listen to Americans: Stop trying to gut the Clean Air Act and stop blocking efforts to protect public health. Let EPA do its job.

Americans want strong protections against toxic coal ash – that’s why they submitted more than 450,000 public comments during the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) process to put long-overdue protections in place.

Unfortunately, Congressman David McKinley (R-WV) recently introduced the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act of 2011 (H.R. 2273), which would handcuff EPA’s ability to move forward with strong coal ash disposal safeguards for our communities. And even worse, this bill is expected to come up for a vote this week.

Believe it or not, the banana peel you throw away has more robust protections on it than coal ash containing mercury, arsenic, hexavalent chromium and lead. If this bill passes, that horrible status quo would become the law.

Coal ash is the abundant and dangerous waste left over after coal is burned. Our nation’s power plants generate 140 million tons of it every year. It’s the second-largest waste stream in the country, after municipal garbage! Despite having hazardous ingredients like mercury, coal ash has never been subject to any federal protections, and state laws governing disposal are usually weak or non-existent.

This lack of protections made national headlines in 2008, when a TVA dam burst and spilled one billion gallons of coal ash (100x larger than the Exxon Valdez oil spill) into a beautiful small farming town in Tennessee. At the time, EPA chief Lisa Jackson vowed to put long-overdue, national coal ash protections in place. But the coal industry has met those proposed standards with fierce opposition and a blizzard of lobbying.

This isn’t just a problem in Tennessee. Across the country, billions of tons of coal ash have been dumped in enormous and precarious waste ponds, pits, landfills and mines, putting human health at risk from large-scale disasters and gradual – yet equally dangerous – contamination as toxins in coal ash seep into drinking water sources.

Let me quote something shocking from a joint fact from Sierra Club, the Environmental Integrity Project, and Earthjustice:

In 2010, EPA published a risk assessment that found extremely high risks to human health and the environment from the disposal of coal ash in waste ponds and landfills. The chart below compares EPA’s findings on the cancer risk from arsenic in coal ash disposed in some unlined waste ponds to several other cancer risks, along with the highest level of cancer risk that EPA finds acceptable under current regulatory goals. The risk from coal ash is 2000 times that regulatory goal.

This is unacceptable, and it’s why we must oppose Congressman David McKinley’s Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act of 2011 (H.R. 2273).  Passage of this bill would allow states to continue operating every leak-prone and high hazard toxic coal ash dump without requiring basic federal safeguards and virtually blocking EPA from stepping in to protect communities.

H.R. 2273 would endanger the health and safety of thousands of communities, fail to stimulate coal ash recycling, and disrupt EPA’s public process that has been underway for over two years.

McKinley’s bill is about shielding coal companies and utilities from their responsibility to clean up sites they have contaminated – not about increasing the safe recycling of coal ash, and not about protecting communities.

Take action today and tell your Congressional representative to vote “No” on the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act of 2011 (H.R. 2273).

It almost seems like Texas is proud of the fact that it has some of the worst air quality in the nation.  The state recently filed yet another lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – bringing the total number of recent lawsuits to more than 10– claiming in part that Texas should not have to comply with the common-sense safeguard known as the Cross State Air Pollution protection.

Texas’s largest power provider, Luminant, has also staked out a position, claiming that the safeguard unfairly targets its three dirty, outdated coal plants all located in the Northeast corner of Texas. And now today, EPA has stated that it is making technical adjustments to the Cross State Air Pollution safeguard to account for new information in the data, some of which was self-reported by industry.

Yet these minor tweaks do not undercut the massive importance of including the entire Eastern United States in an air pollution safeguard aimed at improving air quality nationwide. Indeed, they demonstrate that EPA is responsive to new information, and that these are reasonable, flexible protections that also ensure all polluters have to play by the rules.

The Cross State Air Pollution safeguard is an update of a long-standing system that has been in place for decades, and has slashed deadly coal pollution across the eastern and central US. The standard closes loopholes, allowing coal plants to meet similar air quality standards as other regulated industries.

The Cross State Air Pollution safeguard affects 27 states and creates a cap and trade system for pollutants primarily responsible for the formation of smog. Smog has been scientifically linked to premature death, lung damage, and aggravation of asthma or other respiratory conditions.

Because this protection is a cap and trade system, it offers a lot of flexibility to utilities to figure out how to limit pollution across their entire fleet of coal plants – in fact any polluter can continue to pollute at the same levels as it does today, as long as that same entity purchases pollution allowances on the open market, which it buys from other utilities that are much less polluting.

That’s why this whole system has not been that controversial among the business community to date – it’s a sort of pay-to-play, recognizing that a business can be in the driver’s seat, determining how best to improve air quality within its own fleet.

Apparently, Texas doesn’t see it that way. They are determined to stop these safeguards at all costs, no matter what.

We saw that today, when EPA announced it was making some minor technical adjustments to the standards in response to concerns raised by Texas utilities. But in spite of EPA’s offer, Luminant –and Texas — have made the business decision to attack the EPA health safeguards via public-relations campaigns and the courts.

Why Should Cities Across the Nation Care?

Cities around the country should fight to defend the Cross State Air Pollution safeguard and level the playing field because it will improve air quality nationwide – in fact, it has been doing so for many years. This updated safeguard means for the first time in years, the air folks breathe in a host of cities across the Eastern United States will meet minimum public health safety standards. [See page 30 and 31 here] This is also true for Texas.

But instead, Texas is ignoring the reality that this air pollution safeguard helps industry and its own citizens breathe a little easier.  And how does it help industry? Let’s look at a Texas example.  Nearly 1,000 industrial facilities across Texas have had to install and operate air pollution control systems because those areas fail to meet basic public health safety limits for pollution.  But Luminant has not followed suit, deciding to shirk their responsibility by not installing air pollution controls.

The fact is that Luminant is an outlier, and they are threatening to drag down this entire set of clean air protections that have improved the health of millions of people, due to their own mismanagement and missed opportunities. In 2007, when the utility TXU became Luminant, the company promised to be cleaner and greener.  The facts demonstrate that Luminant has not made good on its promises.  The three old Luminant coal plants, Big Brown, Monticello, and Martin Lake, are the top 3 industrial polluters in Texas among nearly 2,000 industrial plants. They are exceptionally dirty plants that, combined, spew more than 25% of the state’s industrial air pollution and more than 46% of the state’s coal plant pollution.

You can see why only Luminant has reached far and wide into the media, into state government, and into the courts in an effort to stop a safeguard that will drastically improve the lives of every day Texans – and every day Americans.  Today’s announcement from EPA does not change the fact that this Cross State Air Pollution safeguard is necessary for the nation, and necessary to clean up Luminant’s big dirty three.

It’s time Texas started leading the nation in the charge forward to clean energy, rather than trying to preserve its position as the dirtiest and remaining mired in the past.

Co-written by Mary Anne Hitt, Director of the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign, and Jen Powis, the state lead for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign working to transition Texas’s electric system to cleaner alternatives.  The campaign is currently working to stop the construction of seven proposed coal plants, and retire older facilities in order to make room for cleaner and greener systems.

Now there’s a headline to catch your attention. It may sound silly – but it’s actually a very real threat. Power plants are killing fish and damaging our waterways via their outdated once-through cooling systems. We need your help now, too, because the deadline for action to remedy this situation is Thursday, August 18th!

Let me explain what we mean by giant fish blenders. Antiquated power plants (many of them coal-fired power plants) throughout the nation use water-intake structures to help cool systems that have generated heat during the energy-making process. These pipes sit below the water’s surface and suck in not only water, but also anything else in the vicinity. This process shreds and destroys the aquatic life drawn in.

After the water is drawn through the power plant, it is discharged at an elevated temperature back into the waterbody, causing even more damage. The process affects the full spectrum of wildlife in the aquatic ecosystem at all life stages—from tiny photosynthetic organisms to fish, shrimp, crabs, birds and marine mammals. Some areas face devastating economic impacts as fisheries are threatened and recreational uses are diminished.

The amount of water used by these power plants is also staggering; Collectively, steam-electric power plants have the capacity to withdraw more than 370 billion gallons per day in the US —more than 135 trillion gallons per year—from our nation’s waters for cooling. This accounts for 49% of all water use. That’s more water than all irrigation and public water supplies combined in the U.S.

Unfortunately, instead of stopping these giant fish blenders (aka, the power plants), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) bowed to intense pressure from powerful industry interests. The EPA has decided not to require power plants to use the best technology available. Instead, EPA issued a proposed standard that largely maintains the status quo, offering little-to-no improvement in the technologies required to protect our waterways and our wildlife.

But there’s a solution. “Closed-cycle cooling” is the best technology available to reduce the impacts of cooling water systems and is both cost-effective and already in use across the country. Closed-cycle cooling reduces water intakes by approximately 95 percent, drastically reducing the amount of water needed for power plant operations, and resulting in a much less impact to fish and other species and the surrounding ecosystem.

But the cooling water guidelines currently proposed by the EPA will do little to address the devastation I’ve described and that we describe in our recently-released report “Giant Fish Blenders: How Power Plants Kill Fish & Damage Our Waterways (And What Can Be Done to Stop Them.”

We hope that the report will illuminate the harmful effects of once-through cooling on the health of our fisheries and waterways, and will encourage the EPA to require higher standards for these systems.

But you can help, too. Check out our Fish Blenders page to learn more and send an email to EPA and Administrator Lisa Jackson demanding that they require better cooling systems that won’t destroy aquatic life via a huge power plant blender.

As the Code Red air quality alerts continue during the heat wave across the country, many families face the fear of asthma attacks in a child or loved one, trigged by high levels of air pollution.

As a mom, I’ve been paying attention to air pollution alerts, and I’ve been cautious about letting my daughter play outside on Code Red days. One of the biggest sources of that air pollution is coal-fired power plants, which pose an especially immediate threat to our health on hot summer days when soot and smog levels are highest.

Burning coal for electricity pollutes our air with toxins that cause asthma, heart disease, and more. One of these pollutants is ozone, which is one of the key ingredients of smog. Yet many Americans still aren’t connecting the dots between coal and the smog pollution it creates. So I took to the TV airwaves yesterday to spread the news and call for action. We need stronger air pollution standards from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Here is an interview I did on the morning news in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

In the United States there is a 50% chance that your air is not safe to breathe – thanks to dangerous levels of air pollution like smog. Children are at greater risk from life-threatening exposure to smog because their lungs are still developing and because they are more likely to be active outdoors.

Even at very low levels, smog can cause asthma, reduced lung function, airway irritation and damage, increased respiratory infections, permanent lung damage, chest pain, wheezing, coughing, and even premature death – quite a disturbing list. In some parts of the country, the smog is so bad that the air is unhealthy to breathe on more than 100 days per year. This is just unacceptable – especially when we have the clean energy technology to make this pollution a thing of the past.

Smog irritates our lungs, triggers asthma attacks, increases emergency room visits and can lead to irreversible lung damage or even death. This summer, air pollution levels have been through the roof. The EPA is currently updating our smog standards, and we need to ensure they finalize stronger protections for our families.

Get informed and get active, folks. Tell EPA and President Obama that we need strong smog standards – it’s time to clean up coal pollution to protect our health.

Good news! Today the Environmental Protection Agency announced a safeguard that will improve the lives of millions of Americans. The Cross State Air Pollution Rule will protect families and communities from the dangerous air pollution spewed out by coal-fired power plants. If you have a child with asthma or a loved one at risk of a heart attack, you can breathe easier today, because these new protections will decrease the chances they will end up in the emergency room.

Specifically, the new protections will reduce power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, dangerous pollutants that form soot and smog and contribute to poor air quality days and respiratory illnesses affecting millions of Americans. (How much does coal affect your life?)

Growing up just outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I remember days when the air was so smoggy that you couldn’t see the mountain views (a big threat to our tourism-based economy), and it was actually dangerous to your health go hiking! The pollution came from coal-fired power plants in the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys. Thanks to these new protections, there will soon be fewer smoggy days in the Smokies and across the eastern U.S.

They call this the Cross State Air Pollution Rule because it curbs the millions of tons of air pollution that travel downwind and across state lines each year. Pollution doesn’t stop at the border, so we’re pleased that EPA is acting to help states be good neighbors by reducing air pollution that drifts across state lines. The areas with the most cleanup to do will also realize the most benefits so that no state will bear an unfair burden.

We also applaud EPA’s science-based approach and its decision to include Texas for both ozone and fine particulates, based on its new analyses that Texas’ air pollution has a major impact on downwind states.

The safeguard will help towns and cities meet clean air standards and reduce the pollution that not only endangers lives, but also costs Americans billions in health costs. EPA estimates that in just the first two years of enforcement, these protections will save up to 34,000 lives, prevent more than 19,000 emergency room visits, prevent 1.8 million missed work and school days and improve the lives of millions. To find out the local health effects of air pollution from coal plants in your town, just enter your zip code into our new interactive map here.

Even better – the benefits of the Cross State Air Pollution Rule also greatly outweigh costs of implementation, saving Americans as much as $280 billion and costing only $2.4 billion annually.

This is a long overdue and much-needed action. It has been in the works for over a decade, so industry has had plenty of time to prepare for these new safeguards. It’s great to see EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson taking yet another stand for clean air and the health of our families.