New EPA coal regulations could lead to 1,400 more deaths a year

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The Trump administration has made deregulation a centerpiece of its political strategy, and the EPA has led the charge. (Photo courtesy of Public Domain Photos)

Hailing the overhaul of federal pollution restrictions on coal-burning power plants as a means to creating new jobs, the Trump administration presented the “war on coal” as the elimination of cumbersome regulations.

The administration’s own analysis, however, revealed Tuesday that the new rules could also lead to as many as 1,400 premature deaths annually by 2030 from an increase in the extremely fine particulate matter that is linked to heart and lung disease, up to 15,000 new cases of upper-respiratory problems, a rise in bronchitis, and tens of thousands of missed school days, writes Lisa Friedman in the New York Times.

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Environmental Protection Agency officials indicated that other regulations on pollution could be used to reduce the number of health-related concerns.

“We love clean, beautiful West Virginia coal,” Trump said at a political rally Tuesday evening in West Virginia, the heart of American coal country. “And you know, that’s indestructible stuff. In times of war, in times of conflict, you can blow up those windmills, they fall down real quick. You can blow up pipelines, they go like this,” he said, making a hand gesture. “You can do a lot of things to those solar panels, but you know what you can’t hurt? Coal.”

A similar analysis by the EPA of the existing rules, which were adopted by the Obama administration, calculated that they would prevent between 1,500 and 3,600 premature deaths per year by 2030, and would reduce the number of school days missed by 180,000 annually.

To read the complete story click here.

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