Testimony of David Ellenberger, 

National Wildlife Federation Regional Outreach Consultant in Boulder, CO 

EPA Carbon Pollution Standard Hearing, Washington, DC- May 24, 2012 

Good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to testify in strong support of the EPA's rules to-"" cut 

carbon dioxide pollution on future coal-fired power plants. 

My name is David Ellenberger and I'm a regional outreach coordinator with the National Wildlife Federation~·J<-K Boulder, CO. Being born and raised in the intermountain West has instilled in me an abiding love of the 

nature, wildlife and the unique recreational opportunities afforded in the great outdoors of my beloved Rocky 

Mountains. Needless to say, when I moved to Colorado from Montana nearly a year ago, I was excited to 

experience some of the legendary downhill skiing the state has to offer. Before I had even moved to my new 

home, I went online to purchase what is called an "epic" ski pass- offering unlimited ski access to the famed 

mountains of Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone, Breckenridge and Arapahoe Basin. 

Unfortunately, my first ski season in Colorado turned out to be something less than "epic". The season limped 

to a start with a later opening in most places- and on limited terrain- than many are accustomed to out 

West. My friends kept telling me, "just wait until March -that's our biggest snow month". I waited patiently, 111~1 $.t7·o...hltt but March on the Front Range was ultimately defined by,._ warm temperatures and nearly zero participation. 

Only .01 inches of precipitation was recorded on the Front Range- making it the driest March since record 

keeping began in the Denver area. Towards the end of the month a wildfire blew out of control southwest of 

Denver, killing three people and torching thousands of acres. 

The ski season ended in a whimper and by mid-April many of the resorts were showing more bare ground than 

snow and hardly managing to stay open to their usual closing dates. And apparently, this unfortunate ski 

season was not just dismal in the Colorado Rockies, as the Denver Post reported that "the 2011-12 ski season 

will forever rank as one of the ugliest ever, with record levels of decay from coast to coast. Across the country, 

average snowfall at ski areas was down 41 percent, marking yet another record low in the last 20 years. Half of 

the country's resorts opened late with man-made snow and closed early in a sweltering March that saw skiarea temperatures reaching the 80s." 

The ski industry in Colorado is a major economic driver for the state. Likely some will say that 2012 was an 

anomaly after a few good years of winter snow packs in the Rockies, and yet reports from climate scientists 

seem to concur that the future of the intermountain West will be hotter and drier- more similar to 2012 than 

not. Indeed a recent Washington Post article in early May confirmed that 2012 that the U.S. just completed 

the warmest 12-month period in 117 years, further stating that "Although the contortions of the jet stream 

established the unusually warm weather patterns, the intensity and persistence of the warmth compared to 

the past is very likely related to the elevated greenhouse concentrations in atmosphere from human 

activities." 

The unfortunate demise of my first ski season in Colorado pales in light ofthe predicted havoc of an 

increasingly warming climate in the West. Increased wildfires, prolonged drought and water scarcity, regional 

die-offs of numerous susceptible plant and animal species and numerous other maladies could unravel the 

fabric of Western landscapes. -~··~ 
I applaud the U.S. EPA's new proposal to cut carbon dioxide emissions from future power plants that will 

reduce heat-trapping emissions by 123 billion pounds of carbon pollution annually compared with business as 

usual. In my opinion these rules are long overdue and need to be finished this year, as well as immediately 

followed by similar rules to limit carbon pollution from existing coal-fired power plants. 

A1raP-p, 11111 oAI"'""' f--"'

1 :-ft, "Jl[l""t->,c~'\'; ~ fA-,Lt( .t....f.c"j ,, .... ,/. I' Long live Wmter. ( 1 • 

David Ellenberger 

2995 Baseline Rd. STE 300 

Boulder, CO 80303