A new study found that scientists may have significantly underestimated just how deadly pollution from coal-fired plants can be. It also shows how tighter regulations can work.
The study, published last week in the journal Science, found that exposure to fine particulate air pollution from coal-fired plants is associated with a mortality risk that is 2.1 times greater than that of particle pollution from other sources.
Particle pollution, also known as particulate matter, is the mix of solid and liquid droplets floating in the air, the US Environmental Protection Agency says. It can come in the form of dirt, dust, soot or smoke. Coal- and natural gas-fired power plants create it, as do cars, agriculture, unpaved roads, construction sites and wildfires.
CNN studied the new report and highlighted a series of frightening threats to people including PM2.5, one of the smallest forms of particle pollution, is so tiny – 1/20th of a width of a human hair – that it can travel past a body’s usual defences and stay in lungs and enter the bloodstream, causing inflammations, respiratory issues and chronic kidney disease. Exposure can cause cancer, stroke or heart attack; it could also aggravate asthma, and it has been associated with a higher risk of depression and anxiety.
In the USA between 1999 and 2020, 460,000 deaths among people who got health coverage through Medicare were attributable to coal-fired plants, the new study showed. The mortality impact was higher in the eastern part of the USA, which has higher coal-related pollution and has greater population density.
