Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100

Power Plant Emissions Drop, Despite Trump While Economy Grows

A new report has come out stating emissions from the nation’s power generators have been on the decline, even with economic growth. The report focuses on four power plant pollutants: sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), mercury (Hg), and carbon dioxide (CO2). These pollutants contribute to climate change, endanger public health, and harm ecosystems. This is important because power plant emissions of SO2 and NOx emissions were 87 percent and 79 percent lower, respectively, than they were in 1990. CO2 emissions rates were also 21 percent lower than they were in 1990. Preliminary data from 2016 suggests that emissions dropped further last year, putting them at or near the same level they were in 1990. Even though emissions are going down, gross domestic product (GDP) has grown, which challenges the Trump Administration’s reasons for pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement.

“The United States reducing emissions in the power sector is good news now that we have a President that is trying to move us backwards. While Trump is trying to roll back all of our progress against climate change, this report shows cleaning up these power plants hasn’t hurt economic growth. This is another reason why we need the Paris climate agreement. While wind and solar is now close to 10 percent of our electricity source, we have been closing dirty coal plants and moving forward with green jobs,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Even though we still have a long way to go, this is an important step for the environment. We are seeing significant drops in NOX, SOX, mercury, sulfur dioxide, but we still have serious problems because of natural gas. This is why aren’t seeing much progress on ground level ozone and fine particulates. We need to rid our dependence on natural gas to really reduce CO2 and tackle cli8mate change.”

Mercury emissions from power plants have decreased 69 percent since 2000 (the first year that mercury emissions were reported by the industry under the Toxics Release Inventory). The mercury emission rate decreased by 55 percent between 2000 and 2015. The reason for the decline in power-plant emissions is that utilities like PSE&G are seeing that coal plants are too expensive to operate when they consider renewable energy alternatives. This is good news for environmentalists because President-Elect Trump is trying to rollback rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while withdrawing from the Paris climate deal.

“Regardless of what Donald Trump says, our country is moving forward because coal is expensive and the technology of the past. Just like PSE&G closing two of the remaining coal power plants in New Jersey, other utilities are seeing the benefits of clean energy and fighting climate change. Even though the President-elect wants to promote the coal industry, utilities are clearly transition away from dirty fuels. This shows that we can forward with energy efficiency, renewable energy and other ways to get us to a carbon-free future without interfering with economic growth. The toxic mercury and air pollution from coal plants had led to hospitalization and other health effects. Carbon pollution leads to smog and triggers asthma. NOX and SO2 contributes to premature mortality as well as lung and heart disease,” said Jeff Tittel. “Clean air is an essential part of a healthy economy. Reducing air pollution will not only reduce health costs and sick days for the residents of New Jersey, but investing in renewable will create jobs and protect our environment.”

Last year, two thirds of all new U.S. power generating capacity came from wind and solar, and just about all of the rest came from natural gas. This is good news because coal-fired power plants are one of the largest sources of pollution in the country, emitting thousands of pounds of toxic mercury and air toxic pollution every year. At the federal level, the EPA has called for strong reductions in air pollution emissions from power plants and manufacturing facilities, but Trump has blocked these protections from moving forward.  Mercury, dioxin, arsenic, and other air toxics emitted from power plants are the most hazardous air pollutants.

While coal is struggling world wide, investors are realizing the economic and environmental benefits of renewable energy. The effects that climate change could potentially have on New Jersey can be devastating from storm surges to flooding. Flooding in New Jersey will most likely become a regular occurrence and worsen if we continue to ignore climate change. New Jersey depends greatly on coastal tourism and many of our residents live along the coast. The solution to mitigating these effects is investing in clean energy sources.

“We need the Paris Climate Accord to reduce air pollution and grow our economy. This report shows reducing pollution from power plants is a win-win-win for the environment, economy, and the people. Climate change is a serious threat so it is important that utilities are reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition to renewable energy. This will grow our economy with green jobs,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “By reducing emissions, it not only gets to protect people’s health and the environment, but it will allow us to save money on health costs. It will also help states like New Jersey save money from damages from future storms cause by climate change. With energy efficiency and renewable energy, consumer will save money on electric bills. Despite what the Fossil Fool in the White House does, utilities in the power sector are moving forward. We need to continue this progress and demand a clean energy future.”