Act to Clean Up Smog-Forming Pollution from Pennsylvania’s Power Plants

From PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org):

It sounds too outrageous to be true, but: when Pennsylvania has some of its smoggiest and unhealthiest air days, state officials allow dirty power plants to turn off their pollution-reducing equipment and actually INCREASE THEIR SMOG POLLUTION.

Speak up today at https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=42531 in support of cleaning up smog-forming pollution from dirty coal power plants.

Smog, or ozone pollution, poses a major risk to human health. It inflames our lungs, which can lead to asthma attacks, emergency room visits, and even death. Last year, PennEnvironment’s Trouble in the Air report found that millions of Pennsylvanians were breathing elevated levels of smog pollution several days per month.¹ Health experts have shown that even tiny increases in smog pollution can do as much lung damage as “smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for 29 years.”²

Pennsylvania’s dirty, coal-fired power plants are one of the largest sources of smog-forming pollution on the east coast, yet they face some of the most lax regulations for smog pollution.³ Current rules allow power plants to average their emissions over a 30 day period, effectively letting them balance out their high-pollution days. As a result, coal companies are allowed to deactivate pollution controls some days, which can create dangerous short-term pollution spikes.⁴ The problem is so bad that Maryland and New York are taking action to force Pennsylvania to clean up these dangerous emissions.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has stepped in and is currently seeking input from the public on whether Pennsylvania’s power plants should reduce their pollution.

Add your name in support of this smog-reducing proposal before the deadline on March 8th.

Incredibly, these facilities are actually equipped with the tools to capture and reduce their smog pollution — but state officials allow them to run the power plants without using it. Closing this loophole could prevent almost 50 tons of smog-forming pollution from entering our skies each day and reduce health risks for millions downwind.⁵

Let’s show our leaders that Pennsylvanians support taking action to clean up the air we breathe.

Sign our clean air petition before the deadline, and then share this email with friends and family who want to breathe healthier air in Pennsylvania.

1. Laura Legere, “Downwind states vote to push Pa. coal plants to run air pollution controls,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 10, 2020.
2. Elizabeth Ridlington, Gideon Weissman, and Morgan Folger, “Trouble in the Air,” PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center, January 28, 2020.
3. Allison Aubrey, “Smog and other pollution may be as harmful to your lungs as smoking, study finds,” National Public Radio, August 13, 2019.
4. Laura Legere, “Downwind states vote to push Pa. coal plants to run air pollution controls,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 10, 2020.
5. “Sierra Club v. United States Environmental Protection Agency,” Justia U.S. Law, August 28,2020.
6. Laura Legere, “Downwind states vote to push Pa. coal plants to run air pollution controls,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 10, 2020.