Megan Wittman, megan.wittman@sierraclub.org
MINNESOTA – Today, the Sierra Club released its new tool, the Trump Coal Pollution Dashboard, that shows the environmental toll of the Trump Administration’s planned rollback of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) safeguards on coal pollution.
The dashboard includes data on federal rules including the Good Neighbor Plan, Regional Haze standards, Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELG), and Greenhouse Gas standards (Clean Air Act section 111d) – major EPA guardrails currently under threat by the Trump Administration. These safeguards are in place to curb emissions of nitrogen oxides, mercury, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, wastewater pollution, and other toxic chemicals from coal plants. In Minnesota, the dashboard provides data on the Sherco, Allen King, and Boswell coal plants.
If the Trump Administration strips away these EPA standards, the Boswell coal plant will have:
- Increased CO2 pollution by 590,000 tons– the equivalent of adding more than 124,000 gas-powered cars to Minnesota roads (Greenhouse Gas standards, Clean Air Act section 111d).
- Increased NOx pollution by 54 percent, heightening the risk of developing respiratory and cardiovascular disease (Good Neighbor Plan and Regional Haze standards).
- Higher wastewater pollution– more than 55 tons annually, potentially containing heavy metals, arsenic, mercury that can contaminate our waterways (ELG).
Last summer, Minnesota Power’s Boswell Energy Center, the largest coal plant in the state, spilled 5 and a half million gallons of coal ash wastewater. The contaminated water reached Blackwater Lake, a reservoir of the Mississippi River. In the midst of federal changes, Minnesota Power’s parent company, ALLETE, is currently in the process of pursuing acquisition by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP) and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), now owned by Blackrock. Members of the public have criticized this plan, sharing concerns about the potential for higher rates, threats to local control, and issues of transparency.
In response, Sierra Club released the following statements:
“Trump’s plan to gut these essential safeguards will only cut slack for Minnesota utilities and increase risk for our communities. Last summer, Boswell’s coal ash wastewater spill devastated crucial water resources for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and wild rice. Trump is writing a permission slip for Minnesota Power’s Boswell and all coal plants, effectively encouraging more pollution. There’s no safe way to burn coal. We can’t drink coal ash-contaminated water. We can’t breathe in polluted air. As Trump looks to green-light pollution, we need our Public Utilities Commission to deny Minnesota Power/ALLETE’s plan for private acquisition. The public needs protection from corporations like Blackrock and monopoly utilities like Minnesota Power. The buck stops here,” said Jenna Yeakle, Beyond Coal Campaign Manager in Duluth, Minnesota.
“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,” said Laurie Williams, Beyond Coal Campaign Director.
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.