More will die under Trump's coal deregulation plan, EPA says

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says its proposal to relax greenhouse gas limits on power plants will cause as many as 1,630 additional premature deaths annually by 2030 from heart and lung disease — an estimate independent experts say may be low.

The projection is contained in a 289-page technical document accompanying the agency's proposal to replace the Obama-era Clean Power Plan that was released Tuesday.

The new rule would give states more leeway to set limits on greenhouse gas emissions from their power sectors — even though, by the agency's own admission, that will result in higher levels of particulate matter and ozone being emitted by coal plants than would have occurred under President Barack Obama's plan. That pollution is linked with respiratory infections, asthma and impaired lung function.

"The Trump EPA once again proves that it cares more about extending the lives of old coal plants rather than saving the lives of the American people," Conrad Schneider, advocacy director of the Clean Air Task Force, said by e-mail. "The result will actually be more pollution and unnecessary loss of life."

That shift would cause 240 to 1,400 additional premature deaths in 2030 from particular matter, and 6 to 230 additional premature deaths from ozone, the EPA estimates. The agency also expects its rule change to result in as many as 96,000 more cases of exacerbated asthma in 2030, as well as 48,000 more lost work days, 140,000 more lost school days and 26,000 more cases of upper and lower respiratory symptoms.

The number of additional premature deaths caused by the rule isn't obvious, because the agency mislabeled a key table in the technical documents. Figures that should have been presented as "Premature deaths among adults" were instead presented as "Avoided premature deaths among adults."

"It's a clerical error, and we are working to fix it," Molly Block, a spokesperson for the agency, said by e-mail.

Under Obama, the EPA asserted that significant health benefits would spring from reducing the amount of soot that emerges from coal plants. When inhaled, that fine particulate matter can penetrate deep into lungs and sometimes into the blood stream, exacerbating heart and lung diseases, causing asthma attacks and sometimes leading to premature deaths.