Kohlekraftwerke emittierten während des letzten Regierungsstillstands in den USA mehr Schadstoffe, während die Regulierungsbehörden beurlaubt waren. Im Durchschnitt war die Feinstaubbelastung während des Shutdowns 2018 und 2019 um 15 bis 20 % höher als im gleichen Zeitraum der vorangegangenen fünf Jahre.
https://theconversation.com/coal-plants-emitted-more-pollution-during-the-last-government-shutdown-while-regulators-were-furloughed-267696
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When the U.S. government shut down in late 2018, it furloughed nearly 600 Environmental Protection Agency pollution inspectors for more than a month. Those workers had to stop their work of monitoring and inspecting industrial sites for pollution, and stopped enforcing environmental-protection laws, including the Clean Air Act.
My colleagues and I analyzed six years’ worth of air quality levels, emissions measurements, power production data and weather reports for more than 200 coal-fired power plants around the country. We found that the coal plants’ operators appeared to take advantage of the lapse in enforcement of environmental regulations.
As soon as the shutdown began, coal-fired power plants started producing about 15% to 20% more particle pollution. And as soon as the government reopened and inspections resumed, pollution levels dropped.
Particulate matter is dangerous
The longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history up until that time began on Dec. 22, 2018, and lasted until Jan. 25, 2019. During that period, about 95% of EPA employees were furloughed, including nearly all the agency’s pollution inspectors, who keep track of whether industrial sites like coal-fired power plants follow rules meant to limit air pollution.
Among those rules are strict limits on a type of pollution called particulate matter, which is sometimes called PM2.5 and PM10. These microscopic particles are smaller than the width of a human hair. When inhaled, they can travel deep into the lungs and even get into the bloodstream. Even short-term exposure to particulates increases the risk of asthma, heart disease and premature death.
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/733758
This American reversal of declassifying the current climate crisis as important only seems to be a war, as if the American president has gone to war with planetary nature itself and wants to destroy it.
Back in the 1970s my first job was at a chemical plant with a big stack emitting SO2. There were strict limits to how much they could emit, and every day testing was done to check the amount emitted. Then I went on night shift, when nobody did checks. What I was told was that the local town had learned that they could hang their washing on the line during the day, but if they left it out at night it would rot away..