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More than 4,400 people died last year because of health problems caused by emissions from Pennsylvania and Ohio's power plants, according to reports from NextGen Climate America and PSE Healthy Energy. In total, the states' power plants caused problems that cost state residents $40 billion in health care bills, the reports found.

Researchers from Harvard University published a study that analyzes the economic and public health benefits of implementing a U.S. power plant carbon standard similar to the Clean Power Plan. The study estimates that a U.S. power plant carbon standard could bring net benefits close to $38 billion annually.

Polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFASs, are chemicals used in nonstick cooking products and firefighting material and are known to cause health risks. Researchers found that 194 out of 4,864 water supplies in about 36 states had detectable levels of the chemicals, but most water treatment plants don't have the technology to remove it, putting millions of people at risk.

The Environmental Protection Agency's power plant emissions rules would save about 3,500 lives a year and have many other positive health effects, according to researchers at Syracuse and Harvard universities. The emissions reductions mandated by the rules would lead to 1,000 fewer heart attacks and other hospitalizations from air-pollution-related illness annually, the study found. 

Scientists are still trying to unravel the damaging effects of ground-level ozone on life on earth. But as the world warms, their concerns about the impact of this highly toxic, pollution-caused gas are growing.

European climate policies are creating new demand for biomass, which power plants now have an incentive to burn instead of coal. That's leading to dramatically increased logging along the eastern coast of the U.S., even as researchers question the eco-friendliness of biomass-based power generation