Staggering?
Air pollution caused by energy production in the U.S. caused at least $131 billion in damages in the year 2011 alone, a new analysis concludes — but while the number sounds grim, it’s also a sign of improvement. In 2002, the damages totaled as high as $175 billion, and the decline in the past decade highlights the success of more stringent emissions regulations on the energy sector while also pointing out the need to continue cracking down. ...
The new analysis, just published in the journal Energy Policy, did just that. Using an up-to-date model and a set of data acquired from the Environmental Protection Agency on emissions from the energy sector, the researchers set about estimating the monetary damages caused by air pollution from energy production between 2002 and 2011. ...
While the study doesn’t delve into the exact causes behind these shifts, the authors have some theories. They point to the EPA’s development of the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) and later its replacement, the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR). The anticipation of these rules, despite the fact that CAIR was never fully implemented, led many facilities to begin writing mitigation policies and installing abatement devices. ...
Certain economic shifts may have also briefly had an effect. The authors suggest that the Great Recession in 2008 caused demand for energy fuels to dip for a few years. And the expansion of renewable energy during the past decade likely also played an important role. ...
There were a few other clear trends in the study to pay attention to. Out of the four sectors included in this study, power generation accounted for the vast majority of all the damages caused. And regardless of sector, sulfur dioxide was the most damaging of all the emissions. Those observations suggest that future regulations should focus on these areas to have the highest impact on air pollution.
That social cost amounts to about $500 for each person that lives in an urban area. I'm not sure if that is "staggering," but still it adds up.
Here is the source: Jaramillo, Paulina, and Nicholas Z. Muller. "Air pollution emissions and damages from energy production in the US: 2002–2011." Energy Policy 90 (2016): 202-211.
