Health impacts from power plant emissions in Mexico

Emissions from power plant pose a potentially large risk to human health and the environment. This pollution source is of particular concern in Mexico, where a large share of electricity is generated by the burning of high-sulfur fuel oil. In this paper, we estimate the health impacts due to air pollution from one of the Mexicoʹs largest power plants, Tuxpan, located on the eastern coast. We calculate the annual average concentrations of primary and secondary (sulfates and nitrates) particulate matter, by modeling representative periods during the year 2001 using the CALPUFF–CALMET modeling system. We find that emissions from the power plant resulted in annual average concentrations of 0.12 μg m−3 (min–max: 0.00–1.43) for primary PM2.5, 0.64 μg m−3 (0.01–2.84) for secondary PM2.5 and 3.09 μg m−3 (0.01–41.54) for SO2 in the 120 km×120 km modeling domain. Such concentrations, while mostly affecting a relatively rural area, could result in significant public health and economic impacts for the local population. It is important to consider such damages when evaluating different electricity generation and control technologies.