July 29, 2014 Jennifer Rennicks, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy Docket ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0602
Comments on the Proposed Clean Power Plan 

# energy.**~**

Good morning. My name is Jennifer Rennicks and I offer my supporttodayforthe Environmental Protection Agency's proposal to reduce carbon dioxide and other invisible pollutants because I am the motherofan asthmatic child.
As the single largest source ofcarbon emissions in the United States, coal plants dump morethan two billion tons ofcarbon pollution into our air everyyear. Limitingthese emissions- as well as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter- from these behemoths will drastically reduce the levels ofair pollutants that aggravate respiratory diseases. This is critically importantto me because my daughter, Emma, is one of7 million children in our countrywho lives with asthma, a chronic respiratory disease that can leave her wheezing, breathless and coughing with little notice.
For 13years, my efforts to limit her exposureto asthma attackstriggers have been restricted to things under my direct control: pets, dust mites, allergens, mold, tobacco smoke, and indoorair pollution from paint orcleaning products. By speaking in support ofthese proposed carbon rules today, Ican finallytake an action against one ofthe most significant triggers for asthma attacks- outdoor air pollution generated by fossil fuel power plants.
When these rules are finally implemented, Iwill applaud the economic benefits that result when harmful levels ofcarbon pollution are reduced by deployingclean energytechnologies; but I will celebrate the possibilitythat my child might be one of 150,000Americans avoiding an asthma attack each year as a result ofthese same reductions.
I hope you and others listening today understand that visits to urgent care to treat a moderate to severe asthma attack, coupled with the necessary medications and supplies, have real and significantfinancial costs forfamilies. Yet the financial impacts have sometimes been easier to handle than the emotional ones. Imagine holding ayoung child- barely 3years old- who is strugglingto take a breath. Now picture her surprise and fear as strangers tryto cover herface with a mask. Ayoung child doesn't understand that mask is to help her breathe, she thinks it's yet anotherobstacle.In an attemptto soften the harsh, clinical nature ofasthma treatments, nurses would connect myyoung daughterto nebulizers using afish-faced mask and her 'rescue inhaler' still sports a duck-face mask. These silicone parts are designed to makethe whole process less dauntingfor achild, but asilly face does not change the fact that coping with asthma is scary for children, worrisome for parents, and expensive for our communities.
Asthma's costs impacts families far beyond medical bills as parents sometimes miss workto care for sick children. All employers don't provide paid sick leave, as mine fortunately does, which means some parents bring home smaller paychecks in orderto provide that necessary care. Those sick children risk falling behind in school- and in under-resourced schools our children need all the class time they can get.
To those who loudly proclaim that reducing carbon pollution may be 'too costly' I would point outthat direct and indirect costs from coping with asthma alone total morethan $18 billion annually- and other diseases, such as heart and lung disease, are also made worse due to pollution from our power sector. A recent Harvard Medical School studyfound that coal pollution costs the United States taxpayers between $175 and $523 billion everyyear in health and environmental impacts, which means coal power is threetimes more expensive than it appears on our power bills. Thankfully my daughter's asthma symptoms have lessened overtime; however, this may not always be the case. Scientists and public health experts warn that carbon-fueled climate pollution may aggravate conditions like asthma because rising temperatures will increase smog pollution and multiplythe numberof "bad air days" when it's hard for asthmatics and other vulnerable populationsto breathe.
This future scenario is not one I am willingto accept, notwhen you and I both knowthat clean energy alternatives generate power in our country and around the world.
I applaud EPA for proposing aflexible rule that can reduce invisible yet harmful pollutantsto ensure enormous health, environmental and economic benefits. I urge you tofinalize the Clean Power Plan in atimely manner- these benefits cannot come soon enough for our children and ourcommunities.
Thank you foryour consideration.