Deaths from coal pollution declined by 97% between 1999 and 2020 thanks to environmental rules. (Credit: Nady/Adobe Stock)
Plans to roll back dozens of environmental regulations could kill thousands and cost billions, according to an analysis from the Associated Press.
Earlier this year, Lee Zeldin, chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, announced plans to get rid of more than 30 rules. He said the roll back would put “a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion” and create a new Golden Age for the American economy.
The rollbacks would impact rules on emissions limits for power plants and vehicles as well as wastewater regulations and air quality standards.
But an in-depth investigation and analysis of scientific research by AP journalists found that ending the rules could have huge consequences: the United States could see up to 30,000 premature deaths and $275 billion in additional costs, annually.
“More people will die,” Cory Zigler, a professor of biostatistics at Brown University, told the AP. “More of this type of pollution that we know kills people will be in the air.”
AP analysis of data, including reports from the EPA itself, found the targeted rules have reduced air pollution — and its negative health impacts — considerably. From 1999 to 2020, research in the journal Science found that deaths from coal pollution declined by 97% among Medicare recipients, thanks largely to environmental rules and coal’s shrinking role in U.S. power.
While Zeldin argued that the rules have a negative economic impact, the AP analysis found the opposite. Cost-benefit analyses for 17 of the 20 rules found the financial benefits outweigh the costs, sometimes by a lot.
For example, a rule the EPA updated last year—National Ambient Air Quality Standards—cut allowable soot particles by 25%. The EPA under Biden estimated the change would save as much as $46 billion per year and prevent 4,500 premature deaths annually.
Zeldin’s fact sheet about rolling the rule back only talks about the estimated costs of the change: $614 million. The estimated benefits are 76 times that amount.
There’s no guarantee yet that the rules will be eliminated. They’re subject to a federal rulemaking process that requires public comment and scientific proof.
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