How you can help in Alabama

Our Alabama chapter is recruiting moms — and dads — to marshal support for EPA’s crucial clean air standards. Join the force today for ways to help.

State of the air

  • Over 80 water bodies in Alabama have fish consumption warnings for Mercury contamination.
  • Childhood asthma is the number one issue Jefferson county school nurses say they handle in their schools
  • More than 17% of Alabama teens between 15 and 18 suffer from asthma. The ailment costs Alabama tens of millions of dollars each year in lost productivity.
  • Alabama ranks 9th in the country for per capita emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, and the state’s carbon emissions are growing rapidly.
  • The outdated, coal-fired power plants surrounding the greater Birmingham area produce most of the air pollution plaguing our area. -Southern Environmental Law Center

The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) in Alabama

According to the EPA:

  • The CSAPR will improve air quality in Alabama, providing the state with important public health benefits, including up to 980 fewer premature deaths each year.
  • The state’s total health benefits as a result of the final rule will be between $3.2 billion and $7.9 billion each year.
  • These health benefits are due in part to air pollution reductions from the following states: AR, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MI, MO MS, NC, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV
  • Alabama’s air pollution reductions will contribute to improved air quality in the following states: AR, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MI, MO, MS, NC, NM, NY, OH, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV[/toggle]

Power Plants in Alabama

Gorgas Steam Plant (1951) #3 in Top 50 Arsenic Polluters (2009) #28 in Top 50 Mercury Emitters (2007)

Gaston Plant (1960) #2 in Top 50 Arsenic Polluters (2009) #8 in Top 50 Mercury Emitters (2007)

Miller Steam Plant (1978) #1 in Top 50 Mercury Emitters (2007)  #2 in CO2 Emitting Power Plants in the U.S. (2008)

These three coal-fired power plants are the primary sources of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which form soot pollution. They are also the primary source of the nitrogen oxides that make ozone; motor vehicles are responsible for a third of the other ingredient, volatile organic compounds.

Gorgas Steam Plant, Gaston Plant and Miller Steam Plant are the leading source of mercury emissions in the region. Miller ranked #1 in the country in 2007, emitting as much as 2,000 pounds a year.

Alabama Power’s Miller Steam Plant was ranked 2nd in the nation for the dirtiest power plant by the Environmental Integrity Project in 2007.

Even with pollution controls currently planned for these plants, they will still account for 89% of sulfur dioxides and 50% of nitrogen oxides in metro Birmingham in 2012. -Southern Environmental Law Center

Alabama posts from our blog