Edward Smith, edward.smith@sierraclub.org
Raleigh, N.C. – Today, the Trump Administration issued a proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency to repeal the agency’s Clean Air Act Section 111 carbon pollution standards, which limit climate-disrupting greenhouse gas emissions from gas- and coal-fired power plants. This comes as Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin have proposed to end over 30 provisions in place to limit pollution and protect the health of Americans.
According to the Sierra Club’s estimates in the Trump Coal Pollution Dashboard, repealing the Section 111 carbon pollution standards would allow North Carolina utilities to release 2,556,065 tons of carbon emissions. That would have been an 18 percent total reduction in carbon dioxide emissions if the rule were implemented. It would also increase emissions of pollutants that lead to higher risk of heart disease, stroke, asthma and other respiratory diseases, pregnancy complications, and cancer.
The proposal falsely claims that power plants “do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution.” In fact, the power sector is the largest stationary source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, and releases more climate pollution than over half of all the world’s countries combined.
The proposed repeals will now face a public comment period.
In response, Sierra Club North Carolina Organizer Olive Burress issued the following response:
“Duke Energy loudly supports the Trump Administration’s hollowing out of bedrock environmental safeguards that have proven to clean up our air while improving public health and growing our economy at the same time. The move is penny-wise and pound-foolish, and doubles down on the pain and suffering already caused by coal-related illnesses. We will rally people who like to breathe clean air without getting sick to push back against these proposed repeals during the public comment period. Duke Energy must do more than Trump’s bare minimum to meet its clean energy and climate commitments to North Carolinians and to meet North Carolina law.”
In response, Sierra Club Climate Policy Director Patrick Drupp issued the following response:
“It’s completely reprehensible that Donald Trump would seek to roll back these lifesaving standards and do more harm to the American people and our planet just to earn some brownie points with the fossil fuel industry. This repeal means more climate disasters, more heart attacks, more asthma attacks, more birth defects, more premature deaths.
“This administration is transparently trading American lives for campaign dollars and the support of fossil fuel companies, and Americans ought to be disgusted and outraged that their government has launched an assault on our health and our future. The Sierra Club will not stand by and let this corrupt administration destroy these critical, lifesaving guardrails.”
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.