EPA Finalizes Package of Standards to Slash Power Plant Pollution, Helping Advance the Transition from Coal to Clean Energy in Michigan

Federal standards will ensure cleaner, reliable power, protecting Environmental Justice communities

April 25, 2024

Washington, D.C. - In a major win for the climate and public health, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized four separate standards today that will slash air, water, and carbon pollution from power plants.

These critically-needed safeguards will improve air and water quality for families, particularly for Michigan communities suffering from DTE's Monroe coal-burning power plant, the largest climate polluter in the state and third largest in the country.

Over one million people submitted public comments on proposals to strengthen these federal standards, including thousands of Sierra Club members and supporters, building on decades of work by Michigan volunteers to retire fossil fuel power plants in their communities.

"Places like 48217 Detroit, River Rouge, and Ecorse know firsthand the tremendous and unequal impacts of pollution from coal plants," said Elayne Coleman, chapter director for the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter."While the asthma rate has remained relatively steady across Michigan, it has increased in places like Detroit. Our volunteers successfully fought to retire the River Rouge and Trenton Channel power plants in their communities and won better air quality. Now, these rules from the Biden administration can help us widen our impact and clean up the air and water around DTE Monroe and other plants."

Michigan's coal-burning power plants have disproportionately impacted Environmental Justice communities that suffer from the cumulative impacts of several polluting industries being located nearby. Every year, DTE's Monroe plant's air pollution contributes to premature deaths, heart attacks, and asthma attacks. Monroe is also a major climate polluter and emits 2.8 million cars worth of carbon dioxide annually.

"Michigan just experienced a nearly winterless winter, damaging our recreation industry and creating problems for farming. We are looking at the potential for extended heat waves and extreme weather this summer," said Fred Miller, conservation chair of the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter. "We need thesestrong EPA standards to curb climate change and protect our state."

DTE planned to burn coal at its Monroe plant until 2035, which would have made it virtually impossible for Michigan to meet the statewide emission reduction goals Governor Whitmer set in her MI Healthy Climate Plan, but thanks to the hard work of advocates and community members, a settlement was reached and the plant will shut down its final units three years earlier in 2032. However, this is still not soon enough to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and climate-related pollution.

For more information on each standard please see the EPA's release: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/biden-harris-administration-finalizes-suite-standards-reduce-pollution-fossil-fuel

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.

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