## EPA Clean Power Plan Public Hearing EPA, Washington, DC, July 29,2014 Presented by Joe Cook, Resident ofNorfolk, VA 23508, CleanEnergy Chair, Sierra Club CBG
My name is Joe Cook, a residential homeowner inNorfolk, VA, and CleanEnergy Chair for the Sierra Club's Chesapeake Bay Group. I come today to speak out strongly in favor ofthe EPA's Clean PowerPlan and urge its adoption with amendments to benefit the people and the planet. To that end, I advocatethat the EPA accelerate the timetable from 2030 to 2020 for reaching notjust a 30%but a 35

- 40% reductionbelow 2005 carbon pollution levels. This proposal will betterprotect public health, move the United States toward a cleaner environment and fight climate change while supplying Americans withreliable and affordable power.

I want to speakto you from a personal perspective as one who lives in a coastal area already at risk offlooding from sea level rise and severe weather events. Both ofthese factors are linked to climate change and global warming, largely caused by carbon pollution from existing dirty, fossil fuel burning power plants. One such coal fired plant, operatesjust 12 miles from my home andbelches soot and aerosols ofmercury, arsenic, chromium, nickel, sodium dioxide and nitrogen oxides, pollution that adversely affects my health. It contributes to my suffering from sinusitis and a lupus compromised immune system. Carbon pollution from the
over 1, 100 currently unregulated coal powerplants like the one nearby threatens communities across the nation, especially high risk coastal cities like Norfolk. Those plants and the poisonous toxins spewed from their smoke stacks cost taxpayers billions ofdollars each year byworsening climate disruption, increasing health care costs and causing premature deaths, none ofwhicharefactored intothe costper kilowatthour.

A Feb. 2011 report, "Mining Coal, Mounting Costs: the Life Cycle Consequences ofCoal was led by associate director ofthe CenterforHealth and the GlobaJ Environment at Harvard Medical School Dr. Paul Epstein. The report found that accounting for the full costs ofcoal power would double ortriple its price from 12¢/k:wh to 24- 36¢/kwh, which makes it more costly than wind, solar orgeothermal. The study, released in the 

### Annals of the New YorkAcademyof Sciences, tallied the

**economic~** health and environmental costs associated with each stage in the life cycle ofcoal

- extraction, transportation, processing, and combustion

- and estimated those costs borne by the public at large may reach $500 billion dollars annually. 1

Reducing carbon pollution from power plants will not only save billions ofdollars each year, it will save lives. In fact, for every dollar ofinvestment underthe Plan, we'll see roughly seven dollars in health benefits. The plan will spur innovation, accelerate the clean energy economy, and create Americanjobs. Just the build-out of Virginia's offshore wind industry could produce over 10,000 good, local, high-payingjobs. According to the Department ofEnergy, the potential offshore wind resource offthe lower 48 states exceeds the country's entire electricity demand. Developing all ofthat area would add tens ofthousands ofmorejobs.

Therefore, I and the Sierra Club urge adoption ofthe EPA Clean PowerPlan at an accelerated pace, while strengthening it in three attainable ways: 1) Bigger CarbonPollution Reductions. Transition from dirty to clean energy faster than EPApredicts at a higher emission reduction goal of35-40%below 20051evelsby 2020 instead of2030. 2) Renewables and EnergyEfficiency. Virginia can meetthe new standardsthrough renewable energy and efficiency, the fastest, cleanest, and most cost-effective path without increasing ouruse ofdirty and dangerous energy sources like nuclearornatural gas. 3) Empower Affected Workers & Communities. Ensure that affected communities are engaged throughoutthe process, and that public resources are available to help workers and communities as they makethe transition to
a clean energy economy. Let's move beyond coal to a clean energy economy, while saving lives, money and MotherEarth from catastrophe.

Climate Progress, Feb. 16,2011.