{"id":246338,"date":"2024-10-25T07:46:15","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T11:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=246338"},"modified":"2024-10-25T14:55:34","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T18:55:34","slug":"curbing-air-pollution-control-devices-would-cost-thousands-of-lives-and-billions-of-dollars","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2024\/curbing-air-pollution-control-devices-would-cost-thousands-of-lives-and-billions-of-dollars\/","title":{"rendered":"Curbing Air Pollution Control Devices Would Cost Thousands of Lives and Billions of Dollars"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin sphnews-block-editorial-leadin is-style-text-over-image has-media has-box has-media-focus-center-middle has-text-position-x-center has-dark-theme\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2024\/10\/air-pollution-control-device.jpg\" class=\"\" alt=\"External infrastructure of the microclimate support system at a large industrial site. Air pipelines inlet and exhaust. Fans and air conditioning. Systems of control of pressure, humidity, temperature\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/10\/air-pollution-control-device.jpg 2121w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/10\/air-pollution-control-device-636x424.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/10\/air-pollution-control-device-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/10\/air-pollution-control-device-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/10\/air-pollution-control-device-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/10\/air-pollution-control-device-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/10\/air-pollution-control-device-755x503.jpg 755w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/10\/air-pollution-control-device-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/10\/air-pollution-control-device-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/10\/air-pollution-control-device-450x300.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/10\/air-pollution-control-device-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/10\/air-pollution-control-device-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/10\/air-pollution-control-device-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2121px) 100vw, 2121px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner has-opacity-70\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-prepress-tag\">Research<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCurbing Air Pollution Control Devices Would Cost Thousands of Lives and Billions of Dollars\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">A new commentary found that power plants\u2019 use of these devices saved up to 9,100 lives and up to $100 billion in health costs in 2023. These estimates reveal the substantial health benefits that could be at stake if the next presidential administration implements policies that aim to weaken the Clean Air Act and limit the regulatory authority of the EPA.<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar sphnews-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">October 25, 2024<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/authors\/jillian-mckoy\/\">Jillian McKoy<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<p>Air pollution control devices (APCDs) prevented up to 9,000 deaths and saved up to $100 billion in health costs in 2023, according to new estimates <a href=\"https:\/\/ajph.aphapublications.org\/doi\/10.2105\/AJPH.2024.307896\">published in an <em>American Journal of Public Health<\/em> editorial<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But these public health benefits will be sharply reduced in future years if a future presidential administration implements the environmental policies outlined in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.project2025.org\/\">Project 2025<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/agenda.americafirstpolicy.com\/\">America First Agenda<\/a>, write researchers from Boston University School of Public Health, the Sierra Club, the Institute for the Environment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both far-right policy platforms are gunning to dismantle environmental regulations, including by weakening the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/laws-regulations\/summary-clean-air-act\">Clean Air Act<\/a>, the bedrock 1970 federal law that gives the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority to regulate emissions of major air pollutants at power plants. The Clean Air Act requires EPA to set national ambient air quality standards for sulfur dioxide (SO<sub>2<\/sub>), nitrogen dioxide and nitrous oxide (NO<sub>x<\/sub>), and other pollutants considered harmful to public health and the environment: ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and lead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to EPA policies that require or encourage power plants to use APCDs, SO<sub>2 <\/sub>emissions decreased by 93 percent and NO<sub>x<\/sub> emissions dropped by 87 percent between 1995 and 2022, translating into a massive decline in coal-related excess deaths, from 40,000 in 2000 to 1,600 in 2020, the commentary states. If Project 2025 and\/or the America First Agenda federal policy platforms are adopted by the next administration, APCD use could plummet and severely jeopardize the health of the public, the authors argue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAir pollution control devices and other provisions of the Clean Air Act are a bedrock part of the public health infrastructure in the United States,\u201d says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/jonathan-buonocore\/\">Jonathan Buonocore<\/a>, assistant professor of environmental health, and lead author of the commentary. \u201cThis work serves to remind us how important the Clean Air Act is, and that there are big public health benefits to protecting or strengthening it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To capture the environmental and health ramifications from a potential reduction in APCD use if Project 2025 or the America First Agenda is enacted, the team calculated changes in SO<sub>2&nbsp; <\/sub>and NO<sub>x <\/sub>emission levels based on a hypothetical \u201cworst-case\u201d scenario in which power plants ceased use of existing APCDs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The researchers estimated that SO<sub>2 <\/sub>emissions would be 2.9 times higher and NO<sub>x <\/sub>reductions would be 1.8 times higher if power plants\u2014many of which are coal-fired\u2014stopped operating APCDs. The team used a reduced complexity model to estimate the health benefits from emissions reductions if APCD use continued at these plants. They found that, in 2023, APCDs at power plants captured about 1.2 million tons of SO<sub>2<\/sub> and 1 million tons of NO<sub>x<\/sub> emissions, which would prevent between 3,100 and 9,000 premature deaths in 2023 and save between $35 billion and almost $100 billion in health costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Power plants are not the highest contributors to air pollution-related public health risk anymore in the US, thanks to federal policies that drastically reduced the emissions of SO<sub>2<\/sub> and NO<sub>x<\/sub> from this sector over this time period,\u201d says Saravanan Arunachalam, deputy director of the Institute for the Environment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. \u201cAny future efforts to weaken the Clean Air Act may elevate this sector back to the top again, and further increase the overall disease burden for Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even with these substantial health benefits, these models underestimate the <a href=\"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/2752-5309\/acc886\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">additional health benefits<\/a> of a reduction in emissions from APCD use, including lower risks of stroke, heart attacks, and asthma in adults, as well as low birth weight, preterm births, asthma onset, and other respiratory or developmental issues in children, the authors point out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although these health benefits are nationwide, the highest benefits occurred from emissions reductions at power plants in Appalachia, the Midwest, and the Mountain West. More than 85 percent of these reductions were attributed to a sharp decline in SO<sub>2<\/sub>, mostly from coal-fired plants. While the researchers note it is unlikely that future policy changes would eliminate all APCD use, these new estimates quantify the health consequences that are at stake\u2014as well as the future health benefits that could remain\u2014depending on changes to the EPA\u2019s authority under a potentially weakened Clean Air Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHealth benefits from APCDs may be concentrated in specific locations, but these results show that strong environmental regulations benefit everyone,\u201d says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/mary-willis\/\">Mary Willis<\/a>, assistant professor of epidemiology.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Importantly, any future policies that strip the EPA of its current regulatory authority would also exacerbate racial inequities in health and likely curtail other climate policies at all levels of government, the authors write. Policies that reduce APCD use would heavily burden environmental justice communities, a majority of which are people of color or low-income populations who already experience the harms of other environmental hazards at disproportionate rates. Increases in power plant air pollution emissions would also offset gains in cities with climate action plans driving reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through the electrification of buildings and transportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The authors point out that federal policies that strip regulatory authority for harmful practices can lead to near-term health consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese misguided plans to unravel pollution protections and undermine the Clean Air Act would jeopardize the health and safety of millions,&#8221; says Jeremy Fisher, principal advisor on climate and energy for the Sierra Club. &#8220;Lives are on the line and the American people deserve more thorough accountability and oversight of polluting power plants, not less.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Air pollution policy and climate policy are ultimately health policy, says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/jonathan-levy\/\">Jonathan Levy<\/a>, chair and professor of the Department of Environmental Health and senior author of the commentary. \u201cThese policy platforms targeting the EPA threaten to take us backward and make Americans less healthy.\u201d &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At SPH, the commentary was also coauthored by Patrick Kinney, Beverly Brown Professor of Urban Health, and Brian Sousa, research data analyst in the Department of Environmental Health. Additional coauthors include Frederica Perera, professor emerita of environmental health sciences and special research scientist in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health; and Daniel Prull, deputy director of research, strategy and analysis for the Sierra Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories is-style-card has-two sphnews-block-editorial-relatedstories\">\n\t\t<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-title\">Related<\/h3>\n\t\t<ul class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-list\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-list-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<article class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"600\" height=\"362\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2023\/05\/oil-and-gas-asthma-600.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Little girl using inhaler\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-category\"><span>air pollution<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2023\/air-pollution-from-oil-and-gas-production-contributes-to-thousands-of-early-deaths-childhood-asthma-cases-nationwide\/\" class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-title-link\">Air Pollution from Oil and Gas Production Contributes to Thousands of Early Deaths, Childhood Asthma Cases Nationwide<\/a><\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-date\">May 8, 2023<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Air pollution control devices (APCDs) prevented up to 9,000 deaths and saved up to $100 billion in health costs in 2023, according to new estimates published in an American Journal of Public Health editorial.&nbsp; But these public health benefits will be sharply reduced in future years if a future presidential administration implements the environmental policies [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15205,"featured_media":246363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[2142,1538,2478,3334,1086,2261,4032,4025,3162],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3519,3529,3531,3540,3545],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[4002,105,2248],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/246338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246338"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/246338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246405,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/246338\/revisions\/246405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246338"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=246338"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=246338"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=246338"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=246338"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=246338"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=246338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}