For decades, it has been widely understood that dirty fuel sources such as coal create significant unhealthy air pollution that directly contributes to unnecessary deaths in America and worldwide. Because of that and environmental reasons, Nebraska has been trying to quit using coal at its North Omaha power plant for the last 12 years, in theory.
However, there have been significant delays, and now board members have been misled by a report minimizing the impact of coal on the area, Grist reported.
What’s happening?
In late 2025, leading up to a vote to once again delay the shutdown of the remaining coal units, Omaha Public Power District CEO Javier Fernandez presented board members with a study that he claimed illustrated that the plant did not pose a significant “negative impact on the health of people in the vicinity,” per Grist.
In reality, according to experts who reviewed the report after the fact, it examined only one specific type of air pollution, not all of the potential harms that could come from the coal units…