NEW: Sierra Club Tool Shows Deadly Impact of Coal on Public Health Across the Country

Washington, D.C. — Today, Sierra Club released a new web tool that shows that every year, approximately 6,500 Americans die prematurely from illnesses linked to coal air pollution. The updated Out of Control: The Deadly Impact of Coal Pollution — 2026 web tool provides county by county, plant by plant, and utility by utility data on the severe negative health effects of air pollution from coal-fired power plants.

Since 2025, the Trump administration has slashed even more public health protections and prolonged coal plant operations, which will lead to more pollution and exacerbate the health impacts of coal. In January, the Trump administration also announced that it would stop considering the cost to public health when making future decisions.

Coal is the dirtiest form of energy production and its emissions into the air and water cause illnesses like asthma, heart attacks, developmental delays, neurological disorders, and cancer, and it can lead to premature death. Despite overwhelming evidence of the deadly impact of coal, the Trump administration has worked to bolster the industry by giving away handouts with taxpayer dollars, illegal bailouts, and gutting longstanding health protections to allow coal companies to cut corners.

In response, Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign Director Laurie Williams issued the following statement: 

“Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency has shirked all responsibility to protect Americans and prioritize public health, but we won’t let them get away with it. Coal pollution kills, and the administration that claims to want to make Americans healthy again should be doing everything in its power to shut down coal plants and limit emissions. Instead, Donald Trump and Lee Zeldin are giving away massive taxpayer-funded payouts to their buddies in the coal industry and issuing illegal bailouts for expensive coal plants—all on the backs of families struggling to pay the highest electric bills they’ve ever faced.

“The updated Out of Control web tool makes it clear that Trump’s handouts to coal CEOs and rollbacks of bedrock public health protections have a direct and severe impact on our health. He is making us sicker, driving up already-costly medical bills, and threatening our children’s futures. We must push back and defend our access to safe and clean air and water.”

Background:

Sierra Club’s Out of Control web tool utilizes analysis provided by Clean Air Task Force from their The Toll From Coal site. Out of Control is designed as a companion to The Toll From Coal. The Toll From Coal is most useful for seeing a variety of health impacts (e.g. asthma attacks, heart attacks) due to exposure to air pollution from each coal plant. Out of Control is most useful for seeing how far those impacts are spread from the coal plant, which locations are most affected, which plants are the most deadly, and which owners are responsible.

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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