Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 4 sepTember 2018
Trump's pollution rules rollback to hit coal country hard

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and emissions that would result,
JOHN RABY compared to the Obama
GRANT TOWN, W.Va. (AP) plan, or the health risks.
— It's coal people like min- EPA charts put numbers
er Steve Knotts, 62, who on just how many more
make West Virginia Trump people would die each
Country. year because of those in-
So it was no surprise that creased coal emissions.
President Donald Trump Abboud and spokeswom-
picked the state to an- an Ashley Bourke of the Na-
nounce his plan rolling tional Mining Association,
back Obama-era pollution which supports Trump's pro-
controls on coal-fired pow- posed regulatory rollback
er plants. on coal emissions, said
Trump left one thing out other federal programs
of his remarks, though: already regulate harmful
northern West Virginia coal emissions from coal power
country will be ground zero plants. Bourke also argued
for increased deaths and that the health studies the
illnesses from the rollback EPA used in its death pro-
on regulation of harmful jections date as far back as
emission from the nation's the 1970s, when coal plants
coal power plants. burned dirtier.
An analysis done by his own In response, Conrad Sch-
Environmental Protection neider of the environmen-
Agency concludes that the In this Aug. 23, 2018 photo, American Electric Power’s John Amos coal-fired plant in Winfield, tal nonprofit Clean Air Task
plan would lead to a great- W.Va., is seen from the town of Poca across the Kanawha River. Force said the EPA's mortal-
er number of people here Associated Press ity estimates had taken into
dying prematurely, and account existing regulation
suffering health problems from smoke stacks as gas- the coal camps of West "I think he has the best inter- of plant emissions.
that they otherwise would es, before solidifying into Virginia, headed to coal ests of the regular common Additionally, health studies
not have, than elsewhere fine particles — still invis- states this week and last to people at the forefront," used by the EPA looked at
in the country, when com- ible — small enough to promote Trump's rollback. Keller says. specific levels of exposure
pared to health impacts of pass through lungs and into The federal government's Trump's Affordable Clean to pollutants and their im-
the Obama plan. bloodstreams. retreat on regulating pollu- Energy program would dis- pact on human health, so
Knotts, a coal miner for 35 An EPA analysis says those tion from coal power plants mantle President Barack remain constant over time,
years, isn't fazed when he pollutants would increase was "good news," Wheeler Obama's 2015 Clean Pow- said Schneider, whose
hears that warning, a cou- under Trump's plan, when told crowds there. er Plan, which has been group analyzes the EPA
ple of days after Trump's compared to what would In Washington, EPA spokes- caught up in court battles projections.
West Virginia rally. He says happen under the Obama man Michael Abboud said without yet being imple- With competition from nat-
the last thing people in coal plan. And that, it says, Trump's plan still would re- mented. ural gas and other cleaner
country want is the govern- would lead to thousands sult in "dramatic reductions" The Obama plan targeted energy helping to kill off
ment slapping down more more heart attacks, asth- in emissions, deaths and ill- climate-changing emis- more than a third of coal
controls on coal — and the ma problems and other ill- ness compared to the sta- sions from power plants, es- jobs over the last decade,
air here in the remote West nesses that would not have tus quo, instead of to the pecially coal. It would have political leaders in coal
Virginia mountains seems occurred. Obama plan. Obama's increased federal regula- states are in no position to
fine to him. Nationally, the EPA says, Clean Power Plan targeted tion of emissions from the be the ones charged with
"People here have had it 350 to 1,500 more people climate-changing carbon nation's electrical grid and enforcing public-health
with other people telling us would die each year under dioxide, but since coal is broadly promoted natural protections on surviving
what we need. We know Trump's plan. But it's north- the largest source of car- gas, solar power and other coal-fired power plants,
what we need. We need ern two-thirds of West Vir- bon dioxide from fossil fu- cleaner energy. said Vivian Stockman of the
a job," Knotts said at lunch ginia and the neighboring els, the Obama plan would Trump's plan would cede Ohio Valley Environmental
hour at a Circle K in a tiny part of Pennsylvania that have curbed other harmful much of the federal over- Coalition.
town between two coal would be hit hardest, by emissions from the coal- sight of existing coal-fired "Our state is beholden to
mines, and 9 miles down far, according to Trump's fired power plants as well. power plants and drop of- coal. Our politicians are
the road from a coal pow- EPA. About 160 miles to the ficial promotion of cleaner beholden to coal," Stock-
er plant, the Grant Town Trump's rollback would kill south of Grant Town, near energy. Individual states man said outside Trump's
plant. an extra 1.4 to 2.4 people the state capital of Charles- largely would decide how West Virginia rally, where
The sky around Grant Town a year for every 100,000 ton, shop owner Doris Keller much to regulate coal she was protesting. "Mean-
is bright blue. The moun- people in those hardest-hit figures that if Trump thinks power plants in their bor- while, our people are be-
tains are a dazzling green. areas, compared to under something's for the best, ders. The plan is open for ing poisoned." And when
Paw Paw Creek gurgles the Obama plan, accord- that's good enough for her. public review, ahead of it comes to coal power
past the town. ing to the EPA analysis. "I just know this. I like Don- any final White House deci- plants and harm, Schneider
Clean-air controls since For West Virginia's 1.8 mil- ald Trump and I think that sion. said, "when you're at Grant
the 1980s largely turned off lion people, that would be he's doing the right thing," "I'm getting rid of some of Town, you're at Ground
the columns of black soot equal to at least a couple said Keller, who turned out these ridiculous rules and Zero." Retired coal miner
that used to rise from coal dozen additional deaths a to support Trump Aug. 21 regulations, which are kill- Jim Haley, living 4 miles
smokestacks. The regula- year. when he promoted his roll- ing our companies ... and from the town's coal-fired
tions slashed the national Trump's acting EPA admin- back proposal. She lives five our jobs," Trump said at the power plant, has trouble
death rates from coal-fired istrator, Andrew Wheeler, a miles from the 2,900-mega- rally. telling from the smokestack
power plants substantially. former coal lobbyist whose watt John Amos coal-fired There was no mention of the when the plant is even
These days pollutants rise grandfather worked in power plant. "small increases" in harmful operating.q