Can Coal Retirements Continue to Improve Public Health Across the United States?

Farida Lanawati Darsono

Faculty of Pharmacy, Widya Mandala Surabaya Catholic University, East Java, Indonesia

28-05-2026

© Wix

Air pollution often appears to be a straightforward problem: reduce emissions, improve air quality, and protect public health. Yet in practice, environmental policies frequently become battlegrounds where health concerns, economic interests, energy demands, and political priorities collide. Recent debates in the United States over stricter air quality standards illustrate how environmental problems may be less about isolated pollutants and more about understanding the interconnected systems in which they operate.

In 2024, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) introduced a more stringent health-based standard for fine particulate matter (PM2.5), reducing the acceptable annual concentration to 9 μg/m³ (US EPA, 2026). PM2.5 refers to microscopic particles small enough to enter deep into the lungs and even the bloodstream, increasing risks of cardiovascular disease, respiratory illness, and premature death (Pope III et al., 2006; Casey et al., 2020; Dedoussi et al., 2020). However, several states challenged the rule, arguing that the EPA had overlooked potential economic consequences (Mindock, 2024).

Part of the debate concerns coal-fired power plants, historically major sources of sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen oxides (NOₓ), and greenhouse gases. Regulations over recent decades have already dramatically reduced emissions from these facilities. But an important question remains: can further reductions still meaningfully improve health outcomes?

A recent study by Rasel and colleagues suggests the answer may be yes (Rasel et al., 2026).

Using air quality and health models, the researchers examined how emissions from individual coal power plants influence PM2.5 concentrations across the United States. Their findings revealed that in 2023, nine counties failing to meet the new air quality standard could have reached compliance by eliminating SO₂ emissions from only 94 coal power plants—representing approximately 9% of U.S. electricity-generating capacity.

The potential benefits extended far beyond cleaner air. Retiring these facilities could avoid approximately 500,000 tons of sulfur dioxide emissions, 304,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, and 485 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, while preventing an estimated 1,170 premature deaths annually among older adults.

Conventional thinking often treats environmental problems in isolation: air pollution belongs to environmental agencies, electricity belongs to energy systems, and public health belongs to healthcare institutions. Yet reality rarely follows these boundaries (Vuong, 2025; Nguyen, 2026). Coal emissions influence atmospheric chemistry, which affects human lungs, healthcare systems, ecosystems, climate processes, and economic productivity simultaneously.

A coal plant generating electricity in one state can influence particulate matter, hospital admissions, and climate conditions hundreds of kilometers away. At the same time, growing electricity demand from artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and expanding digital infrastructures may pressure societies to prolong the lifespan of systems known to generate these risks. The challenge is therefore not merely replacing one energy source with another. It is learning to recognize that human and natural systems operate as interconnected networks where actions in one domain ripple across many others (Tran, 2026).

References

Casey, J. A., et al. (2020). Improved asthma outcomes observed in the vicinity of coal Power plant retirement, retrofit and conversion to natural gas. Nature Energy, 5, 398–408. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-0600-2

Dedoussi, I. C., et al. (2020). Premature mortality related to United States cross-state air pollution. Nature, 578(7794), 261–265. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-1983-8

Mindock, C. (2024, Mar, 7). US Republican states, industry groups challenge EPA's new soot pollution rule. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-republican-states-industry-groups-challenge-epas-new-soot-pollution-rule-2024-03-07/

Nguyen, M.-H. (2026). Ayn Rand and Kingfisher on zero-carbon bombs and a sustainable future. Visions for Sustainability, 25(13474), 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.13135/2384-8677/13474

Pope III, C. A., & Dockery, D. W. (2006). Health effects of fine particulate air pollution: Lines that connect. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 56(6), 709–742. https://doi.org/10.1080/10473289.2006.10464485

Rasel, M. M., et al. (2026). Emissions reductions at coal power plants continue to offer routes to meet new US PM2.5 standards. Environmental Science & Technology, 60(19), 13796–13803. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5c13420

Tran, T. M. A. (2026). Conversations with Kingfisher: Wisdom from Vuong’s wild wise weird stories. Planet Forward. https://planetforward.org/story/kingfisher-stories/   

US EPA. (2026) Final reconsideration of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter (PM). https://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution/final-reconsideration-national-ambient-air-quality-standards-particulate-matter-pm

Vuong, Q. H. (2025). Wild Wise Weird. AISDL. https://books.google.com/books?id=C5dDEQAAQBAJ