During the last government shutdown, air pollution from coal plants increased as companies “strategically” sidestepped environmental rules, according to new research.
Neha Khanna, who co-authored a study that examined power companies’ responses seven years ago, said something similar could be happening in the current shutdown, which is entering its second week with EPA sending the first furlough notices to staff Thursday.
“I can’t believe we are in exactly the same situation again,” said Khanna, a professor of economics and environmental studies at Binghamton University in New York.
Khanna’s study, published in the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, looks at three types of coal plant pollution from nearly 200 power plants during the government shutdown of 2018 and 2019.
Particulate matter pollution — a mix of airborne soot specks — increased 15 to 19 percent above average during the 35-day shutdown, the research shows. Other types of power plant pollution, such as nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide, did not rise substantially.
The disparity could be due to differences in how those pollutants are monitored. Nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions are typically monitored by devices within a power plant’s smoke stack or exhaust system that automatically send relevant data to EPA, regardless of whether the government is operating.
But particulate matter emissions are not tracked at smoke stacks. Instead, EPA monitors ambient concentrations of particulate matter at 1,200 sites across the country with filters that are required to be operated by people who collect samples. When EPA enforcement staff are furloughed during a shutdown, those activities effectively stop, along with inspections.
Technologies for removing the three pollutants are all different, and power plants can continue running so-called selective catalytic reduction to combat nitrogen oxides. They can also use a process known as flue gas desulfurization to reduce sulfur dioxides, without operating electrostatic precipitators that target particulate matter.
“Our best guess is that the EPA’s furlough offered these power plants an opportunity to lower operating costs by temporarily turning off end of pipe abatement technology for a criteria pollutant that is not continuously monitored,” the authors wrote in the study.
“It is a bit like speeding on a highway. You take that risk when you think the chances are low of getting caught and getting a ticket,” Khanna said in an interview.
Shortly before the current shutdown took effect, EPA listed “civil enforcement inspections” as one of dozens of “significant agency activities that will cease during a lapse” in funding.
EPA spokesperson Brigit Hirsch confirmed the agency is currently following those plans. The agency had been operating using carryover funds but on Thursday sent its first furlough notices to staff. Under the agency’s “lapse” plan, EPA could furlough more than 13,000 employees once carryover funds expire.
Asked if EPA is concerned about increased pollution during the shutdown, Hirsch accused Democrats of having “chosen to shut down the government.”
“If they want to re-open the government, they can choose to do so at any time,” she said.
Khanna said she is concerned about the effects on public health.
Data from the previous shutdown showed that coal plants increased their particulate matter emissions “within days” of EPA staff being furloughed.
Khanna said people who live near coal plants, particularly children or pregnant people, could be susceptible to the effects of pollution.
“That’s what I worry about — for the vulnerable, even a short-term change in air quality will impact their health,” she said.
