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Toxic and terminal: how the regulation of coal-fired power stations fails Australian communities

A major new report shows Australia’s power stations are allowed to emit far more pollution than those in the US and Europe, operators are failing to adopt available pollution reduction technologies and one even admitted to falsifying pollution reports. Nearly 900,000 Australians in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria live dangerously close to coal-fired power stations that cause asthma and respiratory illnesses and increase the likelihood of stroke and heart attack, the report by Environmental Justice Australia has found. And those 900,000 living in close proximity to the power stations are not the only ones affected – emissions from the five NSW power stations account for 87% of Sydney’s sulfur dioxide pollution. Toxic and terminal: how the regulation of coal-fired power stations fails Australian communities is the result of exhaustive research, Freedom of Information searches, surveillance of Australia’s major power stations and advice from health experts and industry whistleblowers.