New Sierra Club Dashboard Calculates North Carolina Toll of Trump EPA Rollbacks

Raleigh, N.C. - Today, the Sierra Club unveiled a new interactive tool that shows the environmental toll of the Trump Administration’s planned rollbacks of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) safeguards on coal pollution in North Carolina.

The Trump Coal Pollution Dashboard provides data on how much pollution would be reduced if five EPA rules were implemented: the Good Neighbor Plan, Regional Haze standards, Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, Effluent Limitation Guidelines, and Greenhouse Gas Standards. These safeguards are in place to curb emissions of nitrogen oxides, mercury, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, wastewater pollution, and other toxic chemicals from burning coal. The interactive tool details each rule on its issue-specific tab and where each coal plant is located on a map. 

Five of Duke Energy’s coal plants could escape pollution reductions according to the Trump Coal Pollution Dashboard. Those plants are listed followed by the applicable rule(s):

• Duke Energy’s Belews Creek coal plant, units 1-2; Regional Haze, Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELG), and Greenhouse Gas Standards (111(d))
• Duke Energy’s Cliffside coal plant, units 5-6; Good Neighbor Plan and Regional Haze
• Duke Energy’s Marshall coal plant, units 1-4; Regional Haze, Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELG), and Greenhouse Gas Standards (111(d))
• Duke Energy’s Mayo coal plant, unit 1; Regional Haze, Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS), and Greenhouse Gas Standards (111(d))
• Duke Energy’s Roxboro coal plant, units 1-4; Regional Haze, Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS), and Greenhouse Gas Standards (111(d))

The rules, if fully implemented in North Carolina, would have reduced carbon dioxide emissions annually from listed coal plants by 18 percent, or 2,556,065 tons. Additionally, nitrogen oxides would have been reduced by 48 percent, or 5,998 tons, and sulfur dioxide would have been reduced by 46 percent, or 2,714 tons. Filterable particulate matter would have been reduced by 25 percent, or 57 tons annually. Nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide emissions present serious public health concerns, as well as particulate matter. 

Duke advocated strongly for exemptions to these rules. It went as far as saying the monopoly utility would likely burn more coal under the Trump Administration shortly after the election, followed by a letter to the EPA asking it to undo many of the rules analyzed by the Sierra Club. 

Statement from Olive Buress, North Carolina Beyond Coal Campaign Organizer with the Sierra Club:

“As a monopoly utility, Duke is using its influence to externalize the cost of its pollution generated at existing coal plants into the lungs of hard-working North Carolinians throughout the state. The only way Duke will clean up its act is if we work together to demand clean air, clean water, affordable energy, and a habitable planet.”

In response, Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign Director Laurie Williams issued the following response: 

“The Trump Coal Pollution Dashboard demonstrates clearly that with every executive order, Donald Trump is recklessly releasing tons and tons of toxic, deadly chemicals into our air. These EPA safeguards were put in place to shield our communities from toxins that poison children, cause more asthma attacks, more heart attacks, and more premature deaths. 

“The American people should be outraged that in the first few months of his presidency, Donald Trump has so callously attacked these lifesaving standards and given Big Coal a free pass to make Americans sicker with no consequence. The Sierra Club will continue to fight these dangerous rollbacks and defend our people from more deadly pollution.”