Air pollution from coal-fired power stations was the cause of 460,000 US deaths over the last two decades. Exposure to fine particulate matter – known as PM2.5 – from coal burning in American power plants, is twice as deadly as pollution from other human activities
by Wagamaga
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Exposure to fine particulate air pollutants from coal-fired power plants (coal PM2.5) is associated with a risk of mortality more than double that of exposure to PM2.5 from other sources, according to a new study led by George Mason University, The University of Texas at Austin, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Examining Medicare and emissions data in the U.S. from 1999 to 2020, the researchers also found that 460,000 deaths were attributable to coal PM2.5 during the study period—most of them occurring between 1999 and 2007, when coal PM2.5 levels were highest.
The study was published on November 23, 2023, in Science.