This past Saturday, Governor Corbett and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) published a draft plan intended to reduce dangerous smog pollution that puts nearly two-thirds of Pennsylvanians’ health at risk.
However, some feel the expected plan falls short, failing to set meaningful limits on smog-causing pollution from the state’s largest emitters – coal-fired power plants.
Kim Teplitzky, deputy press secretary of the Sierra Club said all of South Western PA has been designated unsafe in terms of air quality by the EPA. She compares the breathing in of smog pollution to a sunburn on your lungs.
“Coal plants are responsible for a full quarter of all the smog causing pollution in the state,” she explained “The plan would actually fail to reduce emissions from those plants really at all. In fact, under the proposed plan by Governor Corbett, coal plants could produce even more pollution than they are right now.”
Teplitsky said the Sierra Club has tried to work with the DEP and suggested stronger limits on pollution from these plants.
And according to Teplitsky, “Most of the plants in the state already have the modern pollution controls to reduce pollution, they’re simply not using those controls consistently.”
The state pollution control plan is under a public comment period right now, until June 30th. The PA DEP was not willing to comment on this topic.
