Group Urges EPA for More Pollution Cuts
Aug 18 - Associated Press/AP Online
WASHINGTON - If the government required deeper cuts in air pollution from power plants, at least 3,000 lives would be saved and 140,000 children would avoid asthma and other respiratory ailments, an environmental group said Tuesday.
"The benefits outweigh the costs by a 20-to-1 ratio," said Michael
Shore, a senior air policy analyst for the group. "This is clearly a great
benefit for society."
Dan Riedinger, a spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute, a utility trade
group, said complying with EPA's new rule will lead to "a very substantial
reduction (in pollution) on top of the cuts we've already made" - 40
percent since 1980.
"There are always going to be critics who say no matter how much we cut,
they want us to do more," he said. "We think the reductions proposed
by the administration are very aggressive but workable in the long run, so we
would question the need to go much further than that."
Soot and smog from power plants are blamed for pollution that causes
respiratory problems that lead to thousands of deaths each year. The very young
and old are most susceptible.
The EPA plans to require power plants to gradually cut acid rain-causing
sulfur dioxide and smog-causing nitrogen oxide. It's expected that businesses
will spend $48 billion to comply with the changes, which are to be fully
implemented by 2015.
EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt has said the changes would reduce sulfur
pollution nearly 70 percent and the smog-causing chemical 40 percent. It's
estimated those changes will save 13,000 lives and lead to 860,000 fewer asthma
and respiratory cases in children.
Leavitt said Tuesday he is "committed to accelerating the progress of
cleaning the air" and considers the proposal for power plants aggressive.
"States have been battling transported pollution for too long, and we
are committed to providing a solution," he said.
Environmental Defense described the EPA's plans as a step forward but urged
the agency to require industry to invest a minimum of up to 50 percent more, or
a total of $72 billion. Such an investment, the group said, would save 3,000
more lives and shield 140,000 more children from respiratory ailments.
The group used EPA's method to calculate the costs and benefits. It is based
on an economic model that compares the cost of reducing each ton of pollution
with how much pollution there is. Then that cost is compared to the health
benefits from cleaning the air.
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On the Net:
EPA: http://www.epa.gov/interstateairquality
Environmental Defense: http://www.environmentaldefense.org
Edison Electric Institute: http://www.eei.org