New EPA Regulation Would Save at Least 3,000 Lives a Year

A study says that new Environmental Protection Agency regulations will save at least 3,000 lives a year.

The New York Times reports that the study was carried out by scientists from Syracuse University and Harvard. The report was based on a number of hypothetical new regulations for power plants that generate energy using fossil fuels like coal.

The scenario that resulted in the most saved lives was also the most similar to a rule the EPA proposed in the summer of 2014. The study was based on an evaluation of maps and air patterns of the approximately 2,400 fossil fuel reliant power plants in the United States.

That proposal called for allowing states to regulate carbon emissions from power plants. The new rule would also require improvements to the energy efficiency of consumer goods like air conditioners and refrigerators.

The scientists concluded that around 3,500 lives would be saved annually because the new rule would lower the amount of carbon, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere. These reductions would also prevent around 1,000 heart attacks and hospitalizations caused by air pollution annually.

The study began a year before the EPA released the new rule proposal. One of the Syracuse researchers said it was actually just a coincidence that one of the study's hypotheticals closely mirrored the new rule.

If the rule were to take effect, it would lower the United States' carbon emissions by 30 percent of what they were in 2005 by 2030. It would also result in the closure of a number of coal fired power plants and the cessation of construction of new plants.

The loss in power generating capacity from coal plants would be made up for from renewable resources like wind and solar power.