"Coal pollution is killing Americans." That is the verdict of Dr. Lynn Ringenberg, of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

You needn't remind people in Pittsburgh of that fact. A series of articles published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last December found that 14,636 more people died from heart disease, respiratory disease and lung cancer over a nine-year period than national mortality rates would suggest.

But it's not just Pittsburgh that is affected. A study released by Physicians for Social Responsibility and the National Resources Defense Council found that Pennsylvania has the second-most toxic air in the nation after Ohio.

The study comes 41 years after the passage of the Clean Air Act and at a time when Congress is deciding whether to restrict the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency to address air quality issues.

Among the key findings in the report:

nNearly half of all air pollution in this country comes from coal- and oil-fired power plants.

nPower plants are the single largest source of toxic air pollution in 28 states and the District of Columbia.

The EPA estimates that reducing toxic pollution under the pending "Mercury and Air Toxics" standard could save 17,000 lives annually and avoid as many as 120,000 childhood asthma symptoms.

But Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee last week not only approved a spending measure — passed strictly along party lines — that cuts billions of dollars from EPA's budget, they attached provisions that prohibit funding that would be used to test and enforce certain portions of the Clean Air Act.

For example, one amendment bans funding for the EPA to regulate certain levels of particulate matter in the air — including farm dust — under the Clean Air Act.

Another forbids the EPA from establishing safeguards for the disposal of coal ash.

Yet another prohibits the agency from setting carbon dioxide pollution reduction standards for power plants, oil refineries and other major polluters.

Environmentalists note that most of these provisions would stand little chance of passage if proposed on the floor of the House.

By tucking the prohibitions, many of which were written by power company lobbyists, into an appropriations bill, the committee has the ability to deny funds and thus, prevent enforcement.

The bill blocks a provision to limit mercury and arsenic that are pumped into the air and swept along on wind currents that drop heavy doses of particulate matter in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland — three of the top five most toxic states for air pollution.

Mercury has been linked to damage in the brains of children and fetuses.

Despite the committee's vote, the debate is not over. More than 200 national organizations delivered 630,000 comments to the EPA's Boston regional office in support of the agency's draft of rules to trim mercury pollution.

EPA notes that coal-fired power plants account for 25 percent of all toxic emissions in the country.

At a time when EPA's authority needs to be enhanced, Republicans on the committee have instead opted to deny the agency the funds to protect Americans.