Earthjustice and the Environmental Justice Research Center at
Clark Atlanta University have collaborated to compile data for
coal-fired power plant pollution and the impacts on low income
communities and communities of color for EPA Region IV, which
includes Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky,
North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. The environmental
justice trend for coal plant pollution and the disproportionate
burden on these communities presents itself nationally and is
magnified in EPA Region IV. A recent proposal by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency would cut mercury, lead, arsenic
and particle pollution from hundreds of coal-fired power plants
across the country. The plan would save 17,000 lives, prevent
120,000 asthma attacks, and result in air quality improvements
valued at $59 billion to $140 billion each year. The EPA
estimates that for every dollar spent to reduce this pollution,
Americans would see $5 to $13 in health benefits. But Dr. Robert
Bullard, director of the En