Communities across NSW are demanding the Berejiklian government combats toxic air pollution and protects people's health with the release of The People's Clean Air Action Plan.
Tired of government inaction, particularly toxic pollution from coal-fired power stations, a coalition of community groups, environmental lawyers, health professionals and international regulatory experts came together to take the government's task of reducing air pollution into their own hands.
The People's Clean Air Action Plan for NSW calls for the state government to reduce the biggest sources of air pollution by:
- Increasing air quality monitoring and access to information about air pollution
- Reducing coal-fired power station pollution with best practice control standards
- Reducing vehicle pollution, with a focus on vehicle pollution hotspots
- Phasing out wood-burning heaters
- Legislating health-based ambient air quality standards.
Australia's air pollution standards do not adequately protect health and lag significantly behind other regions, including the USA, the EU and China, where coal-fired power stations are required to install basic pollution controls that cut toxic pollutants by more than 85 percent. In NSW, coal-fired power stations cause 477 premature deaths, 7,582 asthma attacks and 450 babies to be born with low birth weight.
A coalition of groups who contributed to The People's Clean Air Action Plan.
