141st APHA Annual Meeting

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293351
Coal blooded: Coal fired power plants spell double jeopardy for communities of color

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 8:35 AM - 8:55 AM

Jacqueline Patterson, MSW, MPH , Environmental and Climate Justice Department, NAACP, Baltimore, MD
Coal Blooded: Putting Profits Before People is a systematic study of 378 coal-fired power plants in the United States, in which each plant is evaluated in terms of its environmental justice performance (EJP), i.e., how it affects low-income communities and communities of color. A score was assigned to each plant based on five factors: sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions; the total population living within three miles of the plant(s); and the median income and percentage of people of color among the total population living within three miles of the plant(s). The study found that coal fired power plants were disproportionately located in communities of color. The study also found that toxins emitted from those plants, such as mercury, arsenic, lead, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, are tied to health conditions that are elevated in communities of color such as asthma hospitalizations and death, lung disease, heart disease, attention deficit disorder and other conditions The report provided a path for policy change which includes supporting energy efficiency standards and renewable portfolio standards, as well as passing local ordinances on clean air, increasing rulemaking under the Clean Air Act, and improving monitoring and evaluation and implementation of existing measures such as the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Environmental health sciences
Program planning
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
List the pollutants that are emitted from coal fired power plants. Describe the health effects of exposure to emissions from coal fired power plants. Analyze the relationship between coal based generation of energy and climate change. Discuss how communities of color and low income communities are disproportionately impacted by pollution from coal fired power plants.

Keywords: Environmental Justice, Climate Change

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have served as the Director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program for 3 years and have been a public heath professional for 20 years working on women's rights, HIV and AIDS, violence against women, and environmental health with the Peace Corps, Baltimore City Heath Department, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, IMA World Health, Action AID International, and others.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.