Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society

Study: Clean Power Plan Replacement Worse than Nothing, Costs More than 3,500 Lives and $33B Yearly

Tuesday, October 10, 2017, By News Staff
Share
College of Engineering and Computer Sciencefacultyresearch

cleanairmap
A new map released today by scientists at Syracuse and Harvard universities shows that, compared to doing nothing, replacing the Clean Power Plan with a narrower option would make air quality worse and endanger more lives, on top of the 3,500 premature deaths and $33 billion in health costs already estimated.

(Click here for full sized version of map)

If EPA replaces the Clean Power Plan with a narrower “inside the fence line” alternative, it will drive up fine particle pollution, according to a new map drawn from a study by scientists at Syracuse University and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

“The surprising finding from our previous study is that an ‘inside the fence line’ approach is not only worse than the Clean Power Plan, it is worse than doing nothing at all,” says Charles Driscoll, University Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science Syracuse University. “We also found that the ‘inside the fence line’ approach would do little to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.” The “inside the fence” line approach would limit power plant carbon standards to improvements that can be made within a facility rather than a broad suite of options that include new renewable energy.

The new map shows that an “inside the fence line” approach would cause new air pollution hotspots in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Texas and other states due to increased fine particle pollution. This increase in air pollution would lead to an increase in premature deaths in 17 states compared to no new policy, according to the study. Fine particle pollution is associated with increases in premature deaths, hospitalizations from respiratory and heart disease, and worsening asthma attacks in people with asthma.

The impacts depicted in the new map of increased air pollution stand in sharp contrast to the benefits that the authors estimated for carbon standards like the Clean Power Plan.

“Carbon standards like the Clean Power Plan would prevent approximately 3,500 premature deaths from air pollution every year, according to our study,” says Jonathan Buonocore, a research associate at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study found that Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas have the most to lose from the repeal of the Clean Power Plan with an estimated 230 to 330 extra premature deaths per year without flexible carbon standards like those originally proposed.

“The current EPA has the cost-benefit science wrong. There is no credible evidence that there is a safe level of fine particulate pollution that does not harm health. Our study showed that the value of the health benefits would outweigh costs by $33 billion a year,” adds Buonocore.

Charles Driscoll

Charles Driscoll

The new map and related findings are based on two peer-reviewed studies published in independent journals. The 2015 paper in Nature Climate Change, “US power plant carbon standards and clean air and health co-benefits,” quantified the air quality and public health benefits of power plant carbon standards like the Clean Power Plan and an inside the fence line approach. A 2016 paper in PLOS One, “An Analysis of Costs and Health Co-benefits for a U.S. Power Plant Carbon Standard,” calculated the costs and benefits of carbon standards like the Clean Power Plan.

The deterioration in air quality under an “inside the fence line” approach would be caused by emissions rebound at coal-fired power plants, according to the study. Emission rebound refers to the increase in emissions that occurs when facilities undergo efficiency improvements and then operate more frequently and for longer periods of time, leading to increased emissions.

“The bottom line is that the ‘inside the fence line’ approach would do more harm than good. Not only would it cause thousands of extra deaths and cost billions every year compared to the Clean Power Plan, it would inflict more harm than doing nothing at all,” concludes Driscoll.

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • 5th Round of CUSE Grants Awards $510,000 to 31 Projects
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Diane Stirling
  • Matt Cufari Named as a 2022-23 Astronaut Scholar
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Kelly Homan Rodoski
  • Syracuse University Libraries’ New Website Improves User Experience, Accessibility
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Cristina Hatem
  • University Hosts Syracuse Fire Department Graduation Ceremony
    Tuesday, May 24, 2022, By News Staff
  • Architecture Student Named Honors Thesis Prize Award Recipient
    Tuesday, May 24, 2022, By Julie Sharkey

More In Health & Society

Falk Graduate Student Rebecca Garofano Honored by Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Rebecca Garofano, a Falk College graduate student in nutrition science, was honored with the Outstanding Dietetics Student Award at the New York State Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Annual Meeting and Expo April 8-9 in Syracuse. Garofano is actively engaged…

Phillandra Smith Finds and Fosters Community at Syracuse University

Phillandra Smith hadn’t considered a Ph.D. until a professor at Barry University asked what she would do after finishing a master’s degree. Smith, who is from the Bahamas, had planned to return to the classroom. “This professor was honestly really…

Couple, Family Counseling Services Available at the Falk College

Sometimes we need extra support to manage the more difficult challenges in life, including challenges in our family relationships. A trained couple and family therapist can make an enormous difference in keeping these important connections healthy and strong for life….

Design Professor Co-Authors Book on Design Thinking for a Regenerative Future

A new book about the importance of design thinking for a regenerative future grew from a conversation at Syracuse University between two like-minded visionaries. In September 2018, world-renowned futurist and thinker David Houle ’69, a graduate of the College of…

From Orange to Black and Gold: Athletic Advising Certificate Helps Ella Simkins ’20, G’21 Land at Army Lax

Ella Simkins ’20, G’21 had big plans for the 2020 women’s lacrosse season. A standout defender, in her junior year she had started all 21 games, recorded career highs in caused turnovers and draw controls, and ranked third on the…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2022 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.