(CNN) A scientist who coauthored some of the most influential studies on air pollution says President Trump's recent executive order to thwart the Environmental Protection Agency's climate-change plan will ultimately cut short thousands of American lives.

President Obama's "Clean Power Plan" is intended to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, but it would also reduce harmful soot and smog, says Douglas Dockery, a department chairman at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that when implemented, the plan would prevent 3,600 premature deaths a year. In addition, the agency said, it would prevent 1,700 heart attacks, 90,000 asthma attacks and 300,000 missed days of work or school a year.

The 'Clean Power Plan' would prevent each year: 3,600 premature deaths

1,700 heart attacks

90,000 asthma attacks

300,000 missed workdays and schooldays Source: Environmental Protection Agency estimates

"It's not about the polar bears," said Dockery. Burning coal "is affecting people living around power plants and downwind of power plants right now."

Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to review and possibly eliminate the EPA's plan to cut power plants' greenhouse gas emissions. The order rescinded previous analysis on the plan's benefits. The EPA had concluded that for every dollar businesses spent on the regulation, American families would save up to four dollars in health benefits.

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