E.P.A. Emissions Plan Will Save Thousands of Lives, Study Finds

New carbon emissions standards that were proposed last year for coal-fired power plants in the United States would substantially improve human health, according to a new study, and prevent more than 3,000 premature deaths per year.

The study, led by researchers at Syracuse and Harvard Universities, used modeling to predict the effect on human health of changes to national carbon standards for power plants.

Researchers calculated that the changes in the E.P.A. rule could prevent 3,500 premature deaths a year, and more than 1,000 heart attacks and hospitalizations from air-pollution-related illness.  More energy efficiency reduces the emission not only of carbon, but also of other pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, the pollutants that create soot and smog, which would have the biggest effect on health, the researchers said.

The study was published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change. The largest declines in pollution — and consequent benefits to health — would happen in the states around the Ohio River Valley, including Pennsylvania and Ohio, which have some of the highest levels of emissions, researchers said.
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In making the case for the climate change rule, the Obama administration has sought to highlight its indirect public health benefits, even though the chief objective of the measure is to reduce global warming.

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