Targets for rollbacks include regional haze, greenhouse gas, mercury and air toxin standards, along with wastewater pollution rules and a recently implemented set of rules designed to curb nitrogen oxide emissions.
Julia Finch, director of the Kentucky chapter of the Sierra Club, said coal plants and industries in the Commonwealth would be allowed to emit more pollution into neighboring communities.
"It's a divestment from the health of Kentuckians," Finch argued. "As much as the narrative is out there that rolling back regulations on coal will bring jobs into the area, the fact of the matter is, that there's just no data to support that."
Nationwide, the dashboard showed more than 532 million metric tons more carbon dioxide would be emitted, along with more than 2,500 more tons of fine particulate matter and 868 more pounds of mercury if the pollution standards are rolled back.
Despite improvements in air quality over the past two decades, Finch added, Kentucky still ranks at the top of states in asthma cases and lung disease. She emphasized children and elderly people are especially vulnerable to the effects of air and water pollution.
"This is not a sacrifice zone," Finch stressed. "This is not a place to continue to extract resources from. This is a place where people are literally fighting for their lives and fighting for stronger regulation."
In its annual "State of the Air" report released last month, the American Lung Association ranked Louisville the second-worst city in the region for ozone emissions. Research shows air pollution is responsible for an estimated 100,000 deaths in the U.S. each year.
