New Sierra Club Dashboard Calculates Georgia Toll of Trump EPA Rollbacks

ATLANTA, GA - Today, the Sierra Club unveiled a new interactive toolthat shows the environmental toll of the Trump Administration's planned rollbacks of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) safeguards on coal pollution in Georgia.

The Trump Coal Pollution Dashboard provides data on how much pollution would be reduced if five EPA rules were implemented: the Good Neighbor Plan, Regional Haze standards, Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, Effluent Limitation Guidelines, and Greenhouse Gas Standards. These safeguards are in place to curb emissions of nitrogen oxides, mercury, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, wastewater pollution, and other toxic chemicals from burning coal.

Two of Georgia Power's plants could escape pollution reductions according to the Trump Coal Pollution Dashboard. Those plants are listed followed by the applicable rules:

• Plant Bowen, units 1-4; Regional Haze, Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELG), and Greenhouse Gas Standard (111d)
• Plant Scherer, units 1-3; Regional Haze, Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELG), and Greenhouse Gas Standard (111d)

Without the EPA guardrails in place, Plant Bowen would see a 64% increase in polluted wastewater, 32% increase in toxic particulate emissions, 52% increase in mercury emissions, and a 68% increase in CO2 emissions.

In response, the Sierra Club issued the following statements:

"Plants Bowen and Scherer were headed towards retirement- now, Georgia Power not only plans to keep them operating well into the next decade, but will have a free pass to operate them without essential safety regulations," said Lexy Doherty, Sierra Club Campaign Organizing Strategist. "Georgia Power cannot be allowed a free pass to make a profit from polluting our air and water. We must fight for a clean, affordable energy future for all of Georgia."

"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," said Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign Director Laurie Williams. "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."

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.