New air pollution standards on emissions of mercury and other heavy metals from coal-fired power plants will avert up to 11,000 premature deaths every year in the United States.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the standards will generate benefits worth between $37 billion and $90 billion a year — with fewer heart attacks, asthma attacks and sick days — at a cost to coal- and oil-fired power producers of less than $10 billion.
While the advantages of cleaning up U.S. power plants are significant, they pale beside the health benefits and reduced pollution that could be achieved from introducing even more basic technology in China.