EPA studies show that air pollution from power plants triggers asthma attacks, bronchitis, and heart disease, and contributes to about 30,000 premature deaths a year. Yet more than twenty-five years after the Clean Air Act became law, many of these power plants, as well as refiners, chemical producers, cement kilns, and other manufacturers, operate without modern pollution controls. These ?grandfathered? pollution sources predate the Clean Air Act, and were required by law to install the best available emission controls whenever their production units were modified or expanded such that emissions increased. The Justice Department had filed enforcement lawsuits against some of the biggest power companies for violating the regulations that required these upgrades.
EIP research has documented how recent EPA rule changes that weaken New Source Review rules will allow these plants to increase their emissions even further (EIP Report: Reform or Rollback). EIP is working closely with other organizations to stop these rollbacks, and compel these plants to clean up their pollution as the law requires.
