Report Estimates Pollution from Eight Utilities Leads to Nearly 6,000 Premature Deaths Yearly

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Subject:  Report Estimates Pollution from Eight Utilities Leads to Nearly 6,000 Premature Deaths Yearly
Date:     Sun, 28 Apr 2002 10:49:48 -0400
From:      Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
          Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation 

cc:    Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov

For Immediate Release
http://www.rffund.org/PrematureDeath.NewsRelease.doc

April 17, 2002
Contact: Rob Kaplan
202-478-6130
 mobile 202-422-5019

Report Estimates Pollution from Eight Utilities Leads to Nearly 6,000 Premature Deaths Yearly
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Former EPA Official Will Form Environmental Integrity Project

Pollution from eight utility companies cited by the Justice Department in 1999 and 2000 for violating the Clean Air Act leads to nearly 6,000 premature deaths yearly, according to a report released today. The analysis also estimates that pollutants from these companies lead to 140,000 asthma attacks and 14,000 cases of acute bronchitis every year.

The study was prepared by Abt Associates (www.abtassoc.com), one of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) primary technical consultants on clean air. It is based on likely emissions in 2007 considering expected reductions under the federal government's current acid rain program.

Eric V. Schaeffer, who was chief of civil enforcement for the EPA until he resigned last month, released the report. Schaeffer, saying lapses in environmental enforcement is a growing threat to public health, announced plans to form the Environmental Integrity Project, a new non-profit project that will advocate for stricter enforcement.

"This report shows how the Bush Administration's failure to enforce the Clean Air Act is a serious threat to public health," said Schaeffer. "Many children and families suffer the misery of asthma, bronchitis and even premature death because of the pollution coming from these eight utilities. From my experience inside the EPA I know that these companies would be a lot closer to cleaning up their acts if the White House could find the courage to say no to the energy lobbyists and enforce the law."

The data are broken down into state and utility company totals. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia are estimated to have the highest numbers of premature deaths - more than 200 per year for each state -- due to the emissions of the eight utilities. The state with the highest estimated mortality rate --- 550 deaths - is Pennsylvania.

The largest numbers of estimated premature deaths are attributed to the emissions of the two largest utilities on the list, American Electric Power, with 1400 deaths, and the Southern Company, with 1200 deaths.

The data is also cross tabbed to illustrate the health effects each utility has on each state. For example, the report states that facilities operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) are estimated to be responsible for 54 premature deaths, 43 cases of chronic bronchitis and 1500 asthma attacks in North Carolina each year. 

The eight companies are American Electric Power (AEP), Cinergy, Duke, Dynergy, First Energy, SIGECO, Southern Company, and the TVA. 

The analysis was based on modeling from epidemiological data nationwide and the correlation between emissions and respiratory illnesses. Schaeffer said the study was completed using the "most conservative numbers in the range of possible assumptions." He said this is the first report to estimate the health impact of emissions from all plants owned by these eight utilities, but its numbers are consistent with earlier reports from the non-profit advocacy group Clean Air Task Force, examining the impacts of pollution from a subset of plants.

The Abt Associates report considers the health effects of particulate matter caused by SOx emissions from the 81 facilities operated by the eight companies. Effects of ground level ozone are not considered in the report.

The emissions from these companies are at the heart of the current debate over clean air policy. When Schaeffer resigned last month, he said in a letter to EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman that the agency "was snatching defeat from the jaws of victory" in regard to the lawsuits, because the White House was sending signals to the companies that clean air laws would be weakened. Schaeffer contends that those companies who were ready to settle and begin taking steps to cut their emissions "walked away from the table" because of those signals.

Schaeffer said the Administration's alternative to enforcement of the Clean Air Act, the so-called Clear Skies Proposal, is insufficient. 

"When the EPA says the Clear Skies proposal will clean the air, ask them for their numbers," said Schaeffer, who spent 12 years at the agency. "They have yet to release an analysis that shows Clear Skies will get anywhere near the air pollution reductions expected by enforcing current law."

The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) will be a project of the Rockefeller Family Fund, a public charity based in New York City. Schaeffer said EIP would combine substantive research with grass roots advocacy to achieve better enforcement of environmental laws.

A complete copy of the report is available at www.rffund.org

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http://www.rffund.org/abt report short.pdf 
Executive Summary

Power plants are large emitters of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), particularly in the Midwest, where power plants dominate air pollution emissions. Perhaps the most hazardous contribution of these gaseous air emissions is the formation of secondary fine particulate matter. Over the past decade, numerous studies have linked particulate matter (PM) to a wide range of adverse human health effects, ranging from premature death, hospital admissions and asthma attacks to chronic bronchitis.

This report estimates these adverse health effects, in particular focusing on those associated with particulate air pollution from eight electric utility systems. Exhibit ES-1 presents a map with the locations of the power plants in these eight systems.

The analysis begins with an estimate of ambient particulate matter levels in a business-as-usual "baseline" scenario for 2007. This baseline assumes full implementation of the Acid Rain program and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Summer Smog rule (the 1999 NOx SIP Call). Using an efficient, reduced-form model, we estimated the change in ambient particulate matter from the baseline level by eliminating emissions from each system individually, as well as all eight systems together.

In examining the health impacts of ambient particulate matter attributable to these electric utility systems, we developed a range of concentration-response functions, including functions to estimate premature mortality, chronic bronchitis, hospital admissions and asthma attacks. Exhibit ES-2 presents the estimates that we derived for the impact of each system individually, as well as the eight systems together.

In any complex analysis using estimated parameters and inputs from numerous different models, there are likely to be many sources of uncertainty. This analysis is no exception. We used a variety inputs to derive the health effects estimates, including emission inventories, air quality models, epidemiological estimates of C-R functions, population estimates, and estimates of the future regulations, technology, and human behavior. Recognizing the existence of these uncertainties, we made conservative assumptions to the extent possible at all stages of the analysis, while still remaining consistent with the best available science.

As the best science available studies the problem - we continue to get sick and die.  Steve

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