Costs and benefits of EPA’s new emissions rule for power plants
Yesterday, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced the agency’s new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, which will reduce emissions of heavy metals and acid gases from coal- and oil-fired power plants. The approximately 1,400 units that EPA expects to be affected by the rule (because they aren’t already meeting the standard) will have up to four years to come into compliance. An EPA fact sheet explains, “A range of widely available and economically feasible technologies, practices and compliance strategies are available to power plants to meet the emission limits, including wet and dry scrubbers, dry sorbent injection systems, activated carbon injection systems, and fabric filters.”
In 2016, the rule is expected to deliver health benefits totaling between $37 billion and $90 billion. These come from avoiding:
4,200 to 11,000 premature deaths,
2,800 cases of chronic bronchitis,
4,700 heart attacks,
130,000 cases of aggravated asthma
5,700 hospital and emergency room visits,
6,300 cases of acute bronchitis,
140,000 cases of respiratory symptoms,
540,000 days when people miss work, and
3.2 million days when people must restrict their activities.
Overall, the agency calculates “that for every dollar spent to reduce pollution from power plants, the American public will see up to $9 in health benefits.” We can also expect to see a benefit in terms of jobs: