LTE in the Fayetteville Observer- Health Benefits also Part of Power Plan
Written by Alison Lawrence Jones, M&O Project Manager
View the original here: http://www.fayobserver.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-health-benefits-also-part-of-power-plan/article_96fefec2-9906-5b85-b30f-2a1e69aca6a2.html?mode=jqm
The EPA’s Clean Power Plan is set to be released very soon, and North Carolinians will see significant health benefits. According to the American Lung Association’s “State of the Air Report 2015,” more than 825,000 people have asthma in North Carolina; 27,756 of those live in Cumberland County.
The Clean Power Plan will tackle climate change. Scientists tell us that carbon pollution is a major contributor to warmer temperatures and climate change, enhancing conditions for dangerous ground-level ozone (smog) formation and particle pollution. These widespread pollutants cause asthma attacks, heart attacks and even premature death.
The EPA’s analysis finds that by 2030, the proposed Clean Power Plan will prevent up to 6,600 premature deaths and 150,000 asthma attacks every year. The Clean Power Plan sets specific limits on the amount of carbon pollution each state can produce by 2030. States must enact a plan to meet their goal.
Gov. McCrory’s administration must adopt a Clean Power Plan that involves a collaborative stakeholder process, involving utilities, environmentalists and industry specialists.
It is time North Carolina leaders look at the common-sense health benefits of the plan and ensure clean air for all North Carolinians, especially the children.
Written by: Alison Lawrence Jones, project manager for N.C. Mothers & Others for Clean Air, a program of the American Lung Association of the Southeast
