Study Sees 6,000 Deaths From Power Plants

[Guest guest]

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/18/national/18POLL.html

April 18, 2002

Study Sees 6,000 Deaths From Power Plants

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

ASHINGTON, April 17 - A study prepared by a private contractor estimates

that pollution from more than 80 power plants owned by eight electric

utilities will cause nearly 6,000 premature deaths in the year 2007. The

number is lower than the estimated number of deaths by pollution now because

the air is getting cleaner, but the utility industry still cast doubt on the

study's credibility.

The study was conducted by Abt Associates Inc., a technical consulting firm

based in Cambridge, Mass. Abt often conducts studies for the Environmental

Protection Agency, but this report was prepared for the Rockefeller Family

Fund, which among other work supports environmental projects.

It uses epidemiological studies to project the number of pollution-related

deaths in 2007, after some important new clean-air regulations will have

taken effect and presumably reduced the level of emissions.

The study arrived at its premature death figures by determining the number

of deaths among people 30 and older in excess of a region's expected

mortality levels.

The analysis estimates that in addition to the 6,000 deaths, pollutants from

the eight utilities will lead to 140,000 asthma attacks and 14,000 cases of

acute bronchitis in 2007.

The study says that this pollution consists of fine particles of substances

like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which can cause respiratory

ailments, including lung cancer. The pollution drifts across the country

with prevailing winds but falls relatively near home. Thus, plants in Ohio,

Kentucky and Georgia, which have traditionally been blamed for acid rain and

other pollutants in the Northeast, are also hurting residents in their own

states.

" You don't have to go up to New England before you start to see the health

damage, " said V. Schaeffer, the former chief enforcement officer for

the Environmental Protection Agency and now an adviser to the Rockefeller

fund.

Quinn Shea, executive director of environment for the Edison Electric

Institute, an industry group, questioned the accuracy of the report.

" Regarding adverse health effects, we take that claim very seriously, " Mr.

Shea said. " But, given our experience with these authors, with their data

base, with their modeling methodology, we have strong suspicions that this

work is not credible. "

The report is the latest piece of evidence to be introduced into the ongoing

public debate over clean air regulations under review by the Bush

administration. The administration wants to eliminate some programs and

replace them with a strategy called Clear Skies, which, officials say, will

reduce pollutants more than the current programs. Environmentalists strongly

dispute this.

The eight companies in the study were: American Electric Power, based in

Columbus, Ohio; Cinergy, in Cincinnati; Duke Power in Charlotte, N.C.;

Dynegy, based in Houston; First Energy in Akron, Ohio; Sigeco in Indiana;

Southern Company in Atlanta, and the Tennessee Valley Authority in

Knoxville, which operate a combined 83 power plants. They account for about

8 percent of the more than 9,350 power plants in the country. All eight

companies have been cited by the Justice Department as being in violation of

the Clean Air Act and are in various stages of legal action.

The study said the companies that caused the most pollution were, not

surprisingly, the biggest - American Electric Power, with 1,400 projected

deaths, and the Southern Company, with 1,200 deaths.

Mike Tyndall, a spokesman for Southern, said the report used selective data

that did not provide a complete picture of the situation. " It ignores dozens

of other peer-reviewed studies that find no association between sulfates

from power plants and health effects, " Mr. Tyndall said.

The most deaths, 550, are in Pennsylvania.

" The big loser is Pennsylvania, because they're in the wind path, " Mr.

Schaeffer said.

New York can expect 340 deaths the report said, New Jersey 180 and

Connecticut 54.