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Hello, my name is Royal Mayo, from the Ohio State Conference NAACP, the Steubenville Unit 

NAACP and concerned citizens everywhere. First, let me start by saying that the notion that any elected 

official wants to hurt business, or stop job growth is just silly, the idea is to save lives, and improve the 

quality of life of its citizens. I can't remember anyone criticizing big government, the EPA, or government 

regulations after the BP oil spill in the Gulf. 

I was born in Steubenville Ohio in 1967. Three years later in 1970 the EPA was created and the Clean 

Act was passed. Originally the EPA was empowered to determine safe limits and to regulate six major air 

pollutants, between 1970, and 2010 it was expanded to 189 potential threats. 

In 1974 Harvard began a six city study based on particle pollution in the air, Portage Wisconsin was pick 

because it had the best air based on these particles, and Steubenville because it had the worse. The 

study showed that Portage had 26 percent fewer deaths from heart and lung disease the Steubenville 

during the sa me period of time. My question is, what made the air in Steubenville so polluted, and more 

importantly, the people so unhealthy. 

For years, the Ohio Valley where Steubenville is located was know as an industrial, labor intensive, town. 

Located just 39 miles from Pittsburgh we had two steel mills, Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel, and National 

Steel. Sometimes in the middle of the 20th century the coaHired plants join in the landscape of of major 

employers, and major environmentally damaging corporations. Steubenville is the county seat of 

Jefferson County, and within 36 miles of Steubenville we have three major coal-fired power plants, two 

owned by First Energy, and one owned by American Electric Power. We have the Cardinal plant 9.3 miles 

away in Brilliant Ohio, then we have the Sammis plant 12.8 miles away in Stratton Ohio, First Energy's 

largest in Ohio, and last but not least, the Kammer- Mitchell Plant located just 36.6 miles away in 

Moundsville Ohio. I don't know of and community with so many coal-fired plants located so close 

together, in our country. I have no doubt that the reason for some many cancer related, and heart 

related deaths are because of the pollutants in the air. 

Now let me tell you why it's personal. I am the third generation of my family to live in Steubenville Ohio. 

My fathers parents first came to Steubenville from different small towns in Georgia in the early part of 

the 20th century and met in Steubenville. My maternal grandparents came later, my grandfather from 

Georgia, and my grandmother from North Carolina. All four of them left the then Jim Crow south for 

pretty much the same reasons, better paying jobs in the north, and to escape the racism of the south. I 

lost three of my four grandparents to the environmental hazards that you face while living in 

Steubenville Ohio. The hazards directly related to the poor air quality of my City. 

In 1999 both of my mothers parents died 90 days apart. My grandfather died of lung cancer on August 

11th, and my grandmother died after an asthma attack on November lOth. At the time of my 

grandfathers death he had on older sister, and two aunts still living, they never came north, they stayed 

in georgia. 18 month later my fraternal grandmother died of cancer also. 

That was my past, but what about my present and future. I have a two year old son, Royal 4th, here with 

me today, I also have three older children, I am also expecting my first granddaughter any day now. I 

have a younger brother with three young kids, all in Steubenville, many of my closest friends and 

relatives have families in Steubenville. I am thankful for the government regulations that were 

responsible for the $1.7 billion Bechtel project at the Sammis plant in Stratton Ohio, designed decrease 

the pollutants in the air. 

The problem is this, the job of the CEO's of AEP, and First Energy is to make money, like any other 

business, the cheaper it is for you to make your product, the more profit you make. When you cut cost, 

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you sometimes cut corners, when you cut corners, something, or someone has to suffer. In today's world 

government regulations are viewed as job, and wealth killers, I like to think regulations add to quality of 

life. More money doesn't always mean a better quality of life, I can still remember my Grandfathers aunt 

getting up to get him something to drink before he died, he just didn't have the strength to do it for 

himself. Not only are good jobs needed, but we also need clean air, clean water, and a healthy ozone 

layer. If we work as hard on not passing on a dirty planet as we do at not passing on debt to our children, 

we would be in good shape. Another aspect of these coal-fired power plants are, not only are 

disproportionally affected by the pollutions of these plants, for some reason in Ohio, where blacks are 11 

percent of the population, we only hold around 3 percent of the jobs that they provide. 

In closing, I would like to say, with the political climate as it is today, for our children's sake, I pray that 

the politicians don't play with the health of our environment, with recent disasters like the BP oil spill, 

and the Japanese nuclear accident, the work you do is needed now more than ever. 

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