Mortality risk from United States coal electricity generation

Policy-makers seeking to limit the impact of coal electricity-generating units (EGUs, also known as power plants) on air quality and climate justify regulations by quantifying the health burden attributable to exposure from these sources. We defined "coal PM_2.5" as fine particulate matter associated with coal EGU sulfur dioxide emissions and estimated annual exposure to coal PM_2.5 from 480 EGUs in the US. We estimated the number of deaths attributable to coal PM_2.5 from 1999 to 2020 using individual-level Medicare death records representing 650 million person-years. Exposure to coal PM_2.5 was associated with 2.1 times greater mortality risk than exposure to PM_2.5 from all sources. A total of 460,000 deaths were attributable to coal PM_2.5, representing 25% of all PM_2.5-related Medicare deaths before 2009 and 7% after 2012. Here, we quantify and visualize the contribution of individual EGUs to mortality.