Report: $81 million in health care expenses anticipated from port pollution

Health care expenses related to port pollution could cost Charleston residents $81 million a year, according to a new study commissioned by the Coastal Conservation League.

The report, produced by Massachusetts-based Abt Associates, finds that the new terminal planned at the former Navy base would account for $27 million in medical expenses and that the existing terminals would account for $54 million in health care-related costs. It also determined that, if the Port of Charleston switched its operations to cleaner low-sulfur fuel, the $81 million figure would drop to $36 million.

“It’s like paying a high power bill if your window is open,” said League official Nancy Vinson.

She said the nonprofit organization plans to take the data to lawmakers and to new port chief executive Jim Newsome. The League paid $32,000 for the study.

State Ports Authority spokesman Byron Miller said he did not know about the study before the League released its findings at a press conference Wednesday. He pointed to the SPA’s Pledge for Growth, which includes air pollution reduction.

“Even though it's a small percentage of all the overall emissions in Charleston, we’re trying to do our part,” Miller said.

He disputed the League’s claim that the port accounts for more particulate matter pollution than any other entity.

“We are not a point-source pollutant,” Miller said. “There are lots of mobile sources that make up the port. It’s not a single smokestack. It’s disingenuous and misleading to compare point-source, on-site stack emissions to a port.”

Read more in Thursday’s editions of The Post and Courier.

Reach Allyson Bird at 937-5594 or abird@postandcourier.com.