{"id":14659,"date":"2016-09-23T10:29:57","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T15:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/?p=14659"},"modified":"2016-09-23T10:29:57","modified_gmt":"2016-09-23T15:29:57","slug":"the-clean-power-plan-a-public-health-imperative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2016\/09\/23\/the-clean-power-plan-a-public-health-imperative\/","title":{"rendered":"The Clean Power Plan: A Public Health Imperative"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"By<\/a>
By Mezbuz via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(EDF Attorney Ben Levitan co-authored this post)<\/em><\/p>\n

The Clean Power Plan<\/a> \u2013 our nation\u2019s first-ever standards to limit dangerous carbon pollution from power plants \u2013 will help us address the urgent threat of climate change and move toward a clean energy future. It also offers important public health benefits.<\/p>\n

Once fully implemented, the Clean Power Plan will reduce enough emissions of soot and smog-forming pollution to prevent<\/a> up to 90,000 asthma attacks, 1,700 heart attacks, and 3,600 premature deaths \u2014 every year<\/em>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s in addition to the Clean Power Plan\u2019s tremendous contribution to fighting climate change. Climate change itself leads to harmful health impacts<\/a>, including heat-related illnesses and deaths, longer allergy seasons, more asthma attacks from worse air quality, and more risk from vector-borne diseases like Zika, Lyme disease and West Nile virus.<\/p>\n

Just this week, a group of 1,300 health and medical experts from all 50 states issued a Health Professionals Declaration on Climate Change<\/a> calling for swift action on climate change to protect public health:<\/p>\n

We know that the health of every American is threatened by climate change. This statement articulates our agreement on the urgency of addressing climate change to protect human health \u2026 Delay only undermines our success, and the longer we wait, the more lives will be affected.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Clean Power Plan will reduce carbon pollution from existing power plants by 32 percent below 2005 levels, making it the most important step our nation has taken so far to combat climate change. So it\u2019s no surprise that the public health community has joined the broad and diverse coalition<\/a> supporting the Clean Power Plan in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.<\/p>\n

In a powerful amicus, or \u201cfriend of the court,\u201d brief<\/a>, eight leading health associations explained the public health benefits at stake in this litigation. The brief — from the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and others — underscores that defending the Clean Power Plan is critical to the health of our families and communities.<\/p>\n

Public Health Benefits of the Clean Power Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the brief, medical experts describe many of the health hazards wrought by climate change \u2014hazards that the Clean Power Plan will have a crucial role in mitigating:<\/p>\n