Fine Particulate Air Pollution from Electricity Generation in the US: Health Impacts by Race, Income, and Geography

Electricity
generation is a large contributor to fine particulate
matter (PM2.5) air pollution. However, the demographic
distribution of the resulting exposure is largely unknown. We estimate
exposures to and health impacts of PM2.5 from electricity
generation in the US, for each of the seven Regional Transmission
Organizations (RTOs), for each US state, by income and by race. We
find that average exposures are the highest for blacks, followed by
non-Latino whites. Exposures for remaining groups (e.g., Asians, Native
Americans, Latinos) are somewhat lower. Disparities by race/ethnicity
are observed for each income category, indicating that the racial/ethnic
differences hold even after accounting for differences in income.
Levels of disparity differ by state and RTO. Exposures are higher
for lower-income than for higher-income, but disparities are larger
by race than by income. Geographically, we observe large differences
between where electricity is generated and where people experience
the resulting PM2.5 health consequences; some states are
net exporters of health impacts, other are net importers. For 36 US
states, most of the health impacts are attributable to emissions in
other states. Most of the total impacts are attributable to coal rather
than other fuels.