{"id":8318,"date":"2026-04-21T21:18:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/environmentamerica.org\/washington\/?post_type=resource&p=8318"},"modified":"2026-09-16T10:09:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T17:09:19","slug":"fossil-fuel-power-plants-are-staying-online-longer","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/environmentamerica.org\/washington\/resources\/fossil-fuel-power-plants-are-staying-online-longer\/","title":{"rendered":"Fossil fuel power plants are staying online longer"},"featured_media":64734,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":false,"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":""},"campaign_tax":[153],"display_option":[],"issue_tax":[],"resource_type":[81],"region_tax":[],"state":[3,13,16,23,25,27,2,41,49,52,53],"topic_tax":[128,121,122],"class_list":["post-8318","resource","type-resource","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"details":{"helper_taxonomies":{"topics":[121,122,128],"collection":false,"press_type":false,"person_type":false,"resource_type":81,"event_type":false,"campaigns":153,"department":false,"level":false,"states":[3,13,16,23,25,27,2,41,49,52,53],"act_option":false,"display_option":false,"primary":{"topic":128}},"subtitle":"That means dirtier air","excerpt":"The data center boom is keeping some old, dirty power plants that were set to retire online for years longer than planned. The resulting air pollution threatens our health.","featured_image":64734,"caption_override":"","updated_on":null,"sidebar_action":[],"related_event":"","hide_hero_image":false,"location":"internal","external_link":{"publication_name":"","url":""},"file":null,"sidebar_action_query_string":""},"helper_people_group":{"title":"Authors","entities":[{"type":"dynamic","dynamic_person":{"site":3,"people":"5114"},"information":{"name":"","image":null,"role":"","biography":"","contact":{"twitter":"","facebook":"","email":"","phone":""}}},{"type":"dynamic","dynamic_person":{"site":15,"people":"112"},"information":{"name":"","image":null,"role":"","biography":"","contact":{"twitter":"","facebook":"","email":"","phone":""}}},{"type":"dynamic","dynamic_person":{"site":16,"people":"10053"},"information":{"name":"","image":null,"role":"","biography":"","contact":{"twitter":"","facebook":"","email":"","phone":""}}}]},"helper_downloads":{"title":"Downloads","files":null},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"The rapid expansion of data centers powering<\/a> artificial intelligence and other forms of computing poses an immediate threat to our air: Data center expansion is helping to keep some of the nation\u2019s oldest and dirtiest fossil fuel power plants online. As long as these plants are kept online, continued emissions of harmful air pollution will threaten human health.\r\n\r\nIn October, we identified<\/a> at least 33 fossil fuel generating units across 15 power plants whose planned retirements were postponed due to reliability concerns associated with energy demand from data centers. Then in April 2026, four units at two more highly polluting power plants in Pennsylvania, Keystone and Conemaugh<\/a>, also delayed their retirements by four years to help \u201ccover projected increased electrical demand driven by build-out of data centers.\u201d\r\n\r\nSome of these power plants<\/a> were already expected to be retired by now: In total, 8.1 GW of coal capacity that was scheduled to be retired by the end of 2025 is still being kept online.\r\n\r\nTogether, these 17 \u201czombie power plants\u201d with 37 fossil fuel units being kept online released more global warming emissions than the entire state of Massachusetts emitted on net in 2022<\/a>. But fossil fuel power plants don\u2019t just contribute to climate change; they also create local air pollution that is harmful to the health of nearby communities and the environment.\r\n

Keeping polluting power plants online harms public health <\/strong><\/h3>\r\nFossil fuel power plants emit pollutants such as sulfur dioxide<\/a> (SO2<\/sub>) and nitrogen oxides<\/a> (NOx<\/sub>). Both SO2<\/sub> and NOx<\/sub> contribute to the formation of fine particle pollution<\/a> (PM2.5<\/sub>) and NOx<\/sub> contributes to ground-level ozone \u2013 two forms of air pollution that threaten human health.\r\n\r\nFine particle pollution<\/a> aggravates asthma, decreases lung function, and increases respiratory symptoms such as coughing or difficulty breathing. Ground-level ozone<\/a> aggravates lung diseases including asthma, emphysema and chronic bronchitis. These pollutants are especially harmful to people with pre-existing respiratory conditions, kids and older adults.\r\n\r\nIn addition, coal plants also emit mercury, an extremely harmful neurotoxin<\/a>. When released into the environment, elemental mercury from coal-fired power plants is converted into methylmercury<\/a>, which is consumed by aquatic organisms and accumulates as it moves up the food chain until it is eaten by humans. The children of mothers who ingest methylmercury<\/a> during pregnancy can experience damage to their cognitive skills and memory as they grow.\r\n\r\nIn 2023, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency<\/a>, these 37 fossil generators released massive amounts of harmful air pollution, including:\r\n
    \r\n \t
  • 32,926 tons of SO2<\/sub><\/li>\r\n \t
  • 29,558 tons of NOx<\/sub><\/li>\r\n \t
  • 272 pounds of mercury<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nEmissions from these plants accounted for roughly 3.1% of NOx and 4.4% of the SO2<\/sub> and pollution from power plants nationwide. However, the plants generated only 1.2% of the nation\u2019s power, as reported to the EPA.\r\n\r\nOf the 17 zombie power plants, J. H. Campbell in Michigan emitted the most mercury, and Plant Bowen in Georgia emitted the most SO2<\/sub> and NOx<\/sub>.\r\n

    Emissions from zombie fossil fuel plants, 2023 (includes only units with delayed retirement)*<\/strong><\/h4>","":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_embed","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_embed":{"width":"narrow","type":"code","title":"","code":"