Data associated with "Health and environmental justice implications of retiring two coal‐fired power plants in the southern Front Range region of Colorado"

Abstract

Despite improvements in air quality over the past 50 years, ambient air pollution remains an important public health issue in the United States. In particular, emissions from coal-fired power plants still have a substantial impact on both nearby and regional populations. Of particular concern is the potential for this impact to fall disproportionately on low-income communities and communities of color. We conducted a quantitative health impact assessment to estimate the health benefits of the proposed decommissioning of coal-fired boilers at two electricity generating stations in the Southern Front Range region of Colorado. We estimated changes in exposures to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone due to reductions in emission using the Community Multiscale Air Quality model and predicted avoided health impacts and related economic values. In addition to estimating health benefits of reduced emissions, we assessed the distribution of these benefits by population-level socioeconomic status using concentration curves. Across the study area, decommissioning the power plants would result in 4 (95% CI: 2 – 6) avoided premature deaths each year due to reduced PM2.5 exposures and greater reductions in hospitalizations and other morbidities. Health benefits resulting from the modeled shutdowns were greatest in areas with lower median incomes, lower percentages of high school graduates, and higher proportions of households with incomes below the poverty line. However, in our study area, we did not observe higher benefits when examining area-level percentage of residents of color, largely due to the distribution of the smaller proportion of the population in the region that identifies as non-White. Our results suggest that decommissioning the power plants in the southern Front Range and replacing them with zero-emissions sources could have broad public health benefits for residents of Colorado, with larger benefits for those that are socially disadvantaged and historically bear greater environmental pollution burdens. These results also suggested that researchers and decision makers need to consider the unique demographics of their study areas to ensure that important opportunities to reduce health disparities associated with point-source pollution.