Trump EPA Rollbacks Would Allow Wisconsin Coal Plants to Pollute More Than 11 Million Tons of CO2, Sierra Club Tool Shows

WISCONSIN – Today, the Sierra Club released its new tool, the Trump Coal Pollution Dashboard, that shows the environmental toll of the Trump Administration’s planned rollback of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) safeguards on coal pollution.

In Wisconsin, if the Greenhouse Gas standard (Clean Air Act section 111d) is eliminated, Wisconsin’s six coal plants would pollute more than 11,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year– the equivalent of adding over 2 million gas-powered cars to Wisconsin roads. The Greenhouse Gas standards are the first federal limits on all carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants and reduce Wisconsin’s coal plant CO2 emissions by a whopping 62%.

Other federal rules highlighted by the Trump Coal Pollution Dashboard include the Good Neighbor Plan, Regional Haze standards, Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, and Effluent Limitation Guidelines– major EPA guardrails currently under threat by the Trump Administration. These safeguards are in place to curb emissions of nitrogen oxides, mercury, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, wastewater pollution, and other toxic chemicals from coal plants.

In response, Sierra Club released the following statements:

“As Trump looks to undercut even more safety measures protecting our families and children, it’s more important than ever that the Wisconsin Public Service Commission takes its role of regulating utilities to protect the public seriously. Revoking these rules means more smoggy skies, more asthma attacks, more hospital visits. As utilities like We Energies look to build new gas plants, in combination with Trump’s plans, our children’s lungs and our families’ pocketbooks are at risk. We need swift, protective measures to keep our children safe,” said Elizabeth Ward, Chapter Director, Sierra Club Wisconsin.

“The Trump Coal Pollution Dashboard demonstrates clearly that with every executive order, Donald Trump is recklessly releasing tons and tons of toxic, deadly chemicals into our air. These EPA safeguards were put in place to shield our communities from toxins that poison children, cause more asthma attacks, more heart attacks, and more premature deaths.

“The American people should be outraged that in the first few months of his presidency, Donald Trump has so callously attacked these lifesaving standards and given Big Coal a free pass to make Americans sicker with no consequence. The Sierra Club will continue to fight these dangerous rollbacks and defend our people from more deadly pollution,” said Laurie Williams, Beyond Coal Campaign Director.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.