Erasing Lives: The EPA’s Crooked Scheme Could Cause Thousands to Lose Their Lives

The report examines the EPA's proposal to withdraw the finding that regulating hazardous emissions from power plants is "appropriate and necessary," which would effectively gut the Mercury & Air Toxics Standards (MATS). It argues that EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler is using a "rigged" cost-benefit analysis that ignores the health benefits of reducing fine particulate matter (soot) to favor coal industry profits. The document highlights that MATS prevents between 4,000 and 11,000 premature deaths annually and provides personal accounts from affected residents in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and North Carolina.

• The Mercury & Air Toxics Standards (MATS) are estimated by the EPA to prevent between 4,000 and 11,000 premature deaths every year, along with thousands of hospitalizations and missed days of work and school.
• The EPA's initial 2011 cost-benefit analysis valued the health benefits of MATS at approximately $90 billion per year, with 99.9% of those benefits (over $89.9 billion) resulting from the reduction of fine particulate matter, known as "soot."
• EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler proposed a new cost-benefit analysis that reduces the monetized health benefits from $90 billion to between $4 million and $6 million by counting only a small portion of lost earnings from decreased I.Q. caused by mercury consumption in freshwater fish.
• The report alleges that the EPA's attempt to exclude soot reductions as a "co-benefit" violates the agency's mission and guidance from the Office of Management and Budget, which recommends including all health benefits in regulatory cost-benefit analyses.
• Since its adoption, MATS has reduced mercury emissions from coal plants by 80% and has also reduced emissions of lead, arsenic, and chromium-6.
• The report links the push to roll back MATS to the influence of coal industry figures, specifically Bob Murray of Murray Energy, who provided significant donations to Donald Trump and whose lobbying firm previously employed Andrew Wheeler.

APA

Earthjustice (2019). Erasing Lives: The EPA’s Crooked Scheme Could Cause Thousands to Lose Their Lives. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/mats-report_earthjustice_2020-01.pdf

Chicago

Earthjustice. Erasing Lives: The EPA’s Crooked Scheme Could Cause Thousands to Lose Their Lives. 2019. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/mats-report_earthjustice_2020-01.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Earthjustice |title=Erasing Lives: The EPA’s Crooked Scheme Could Cause Thousands to Lose Their Lives |date=October 2019 |url=https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/mats-report_earthjustice_2020-01.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{earthjustice2019erasing, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Erasing Lives: The EPA’s Crooked Scheme Could Cause Thousands to Lose Their Lives}}, institution = {Earthjustice}, year = {2019}, month = oct, url = {https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/mats-report_earthjustice_2020-01.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }