Just the Facts: Bush Admin Responsible For 176,000 American Civilian Deaths

photo credit: schizoform

If you could directly save the lives of 176,000 people in the United States, and you refused to do it, or worse yet, created conditions that would cost even more lives, would you be responsible for those deaths?

I contend that the Bush administration was responsible for those deaths because it refused to adopt legislation that would have made it mandatory for Coal Burning Electrical Power Plants to upgrade to new technologies that would have decreased the fine particulate matter that kill 22,000 Americans every year.

The following facts are based on the following sources;

Clean Air Task Force

The Pew Charitable Trusts

Abt Associates

Environmental Protection Agency

Harvard six cities study

Power Plant Emissions: Particulate Matter-Related Health Damages and the Benefits of Alternative Emission Reduction Scenarios

In an effort not to “cloud” this article with personal opinion, I’ll relate the facts as found by the above sources and then comment on them at the end.

• Because of a loophole in the Clean Air Act, power plants built before 1970 have avoided installing modern pollution controls.
  

• On September 29th, 2000, then Governor Bush was quoted as saying “We will work with congress, the Environmental Protection Agency, The Department of Energy, consumer and environmental groups and industry to develop legislation that will establish mandatory reduction targets for emissions of four main pollutants: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and carbon dioxide.

• Instead of cleaning up power plants as promised, the Bush administration allowed the polluters themselves to re-write the clean air regulations.  Two months after being sworn in, then President Bush;

1. Delayed the deadlines for reducing ozone smog
2. Delayed the deadlines for removing fine particulates from the air
3. Delayed action to reduce haze from National parks
4. Delayed by more than a decade, real reductions in toxic mercury emissions from power plants and
5. Allowed up to 7 times more mercury emissions than current law permits.

• In 2000, the Clean Air Task Force, on behalf of the Clear the Air campaign, commissioned Abt Associates to quantify the health impacts of fine particle air pollution from power plants. This study found that;

1. Fine particle pollution from U.S. power plants cuts short the lives of nearly 24,000 people each year, including 2,800 from lung cancer.
2. The average number of life-years lost by individuals dying prematurely from exposure to particulate matter is 14 years.
3. Hundreds of thousands of Americans suffer each year from asthma attacks, cardiac problems, and respiratory problems associated with fine particles from power plants. These illnesses result in tens of thousands of emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and lost work days each year.
4. The elderly, children, and those with respiratory disease are most severely affected by fine particle pollution from power plants.
5. Power plant pollution is responsible for 38,200 non-fatal heart attacks per year.
6. People who live in metropolitan areas near coal-fired plants feel the impacts most acutely and their attributable death rates are much higher than areas with few or no coal-fired plants.
7. African Americans and Latinos suffer a higher death rate than do Caucasians, because of the high demographics within urban areas where most coal power plants are located.
8. At least 90%, or 22,000 of the deaths due to fine particle pollution could have been avoided by capping power plant sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide pollution at levels consistent with the Bush Administrations initial promises.

• “Grandfathered” power plants are permitted to emit more than 10 times more nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide than modern coal plants.

• The smallest (fine) combustion particles are of gravest concern because they are so tiny that they can be inhaled deeply and be absorbed into the bloodstream, thus evading the human lung’s natural defenses.

• West Virginia, with a low population and high number of coal plants, ranks 25 times higher in coal power plant mortality ratings than California, the highest populated state with a low number of coal plants.

Excluding the terrorists, 2,973 people died in the 9-11 attacks. Simple math would tell us that since 2000, the number of people in the United States that have died because of preventable coal fired power plant pollution is equivalent to almost sixty 9/11 attacks.

Put another way. The amount of civilian life lost due to coal power plant pollution under former President Bush’s watch,  is 11 times higher than the number of American Forces lost since the beginning of the Iraq war. Under this scenario, 11 Americans die every day within our own protected borders, compared to each soldier that dies serving his or her country.

We don’t have the time to address this situation utilizing “a long view involving days, weeks, or even years of further studies.” This situation must be addressed immediately. See Twilight Earth Founder, Adam Shake, is Taking Part in the DC Coal Plant Protest, May Serve Jail Time

This article does not address the environmental devastation that the coal industry wreaks on the environment and the subsequent impact that it has on people who live near coal mining activity. See Residents to Protest at Massey Energys Toxic Coal Sludge Dam

This article also does not address the before birth impact coal mining has on fetus’s  being carried by mothers. See China’s Birth Defects Increase 40% in its Largest Coal Producing Province

Many argue that coal is the only “proven and safe energy source available to us.” If the above information doesn’t show that this is correct, then perhaps articles like this U.S. Becomes Worlds Top Wind Power Producer. Next? Solar! will convince people that there are other, proven and safe alternatives.

Even others will point to the pie in the sky idea of “Clean Coal.” To them I would say “There is no such thing and the technology does not exist. Do not point to a Science Fictional ideal of what “could be” when we have other alternatives at hand. See Clean Coal Makes For Dirty Politics

In closing, I would like to say that I believe that moving forward, we will not have one exclusive source of power. We will utilize different sustainable sources of power, in the locations, that best suit the regional climate conditions and available resources. (sun, wind, water) These will need to be run on a “smart electrical grid” that is capable of handling and storing different types of power generation.

We must not only be aware of the amount of energy that we consume, but we must ensure that others are aware of the dangers of coal generated power. Please feel free to forward this, or contact me directly through the comments section with any questions or arguments.

The source link below, is much more expansive and detailed than this article. Please consult it for demographic maps, charts, information, data sheets, math and computer models and other related information.

Keep up the good fight, and alter the eco!

Main Source: Clean the Air

Related posts:

1. A List of Bush Midnight Regulations Against the Environment
2. Obama Raises Fuel Efficiency and Reverses Bush’s Climate Change Policies
3. Obama’s Fuel Economy Standards Worse Than Bush’s: WTF?