Comments to EPA, Public hearing, July 31, 2014, Pittsburgh PA 

Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Electric 

Utility Generating Units, Also known as the Clean Power Plan 

Docket EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0602 ; 

Good afternoon. My name is Alan Lockwood. I am a board-certified Neurologist 

and an Emeritus Professor of Neurology at the University at Buffalo. I am a 

member of the Board and a Senior Scientist at Physicians for Social Responsibility 

(PSR). 

PSR consists of about 25,000 members and activists in chapters and medical 

schools throughout the US. Our mission is "to protect human life from the gravest 

threats to health and survival." There is no doubt in our mind that climate change 

is the greatest public health threat we face as a civilization. This conclusion is 

based on the 5th Assessment by the IPCC that summarizes work of some 600 

scientists from 39 countries, The Third National Climate Assessment, and 

numerous papers published in leading peer-reviewed medical and scientific 

journals. It is also clear that uncontrolled emissions of carbon largely from burning 

fossil fuels, are the major driver of climate change. Therefore, PSR supports 

EPA's Clean Power Plan that seeks to reduce these emissions from existing 

electricity generating units. However, based on these same reports, we conclude 

that although this is an important step in the right direction, it will not be sufficient 

to prevent many of the most severe impacts of climate change. More is needed and 

needed soon. 

Here is a partial glimpse of what must be avoided. 

• Heat-related illnesses such as heat stroke and heat exhaustion, already the 

leading cause of weather-related deaths in the US, will become even more 

common. This is particularly true in our large heat island cities where 

children, the poor, elderly, and those with chronic diseases are increasingly 

vulnerable to the heat. 

• Changes in rainfall will increase the risk for serious floods in North 

America. 

• Droughts, and megadroughts such as the one that gripped most of the nation 

in 2012 and currently affects large parts of the Southwest will also become 

more common, more severe, and last longer. 
• Yields of food crops, including com, soybeans and rice, that are already 

depressed by climate change will fall even more. Crop failures will drive up 

prices beyond the 10% spike seen in July 2012 due to the Midwestern 

drought. 

• Food shortages will exacerbate undernutrition everywhere. Here at home 

more than 40 million citizens rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 

Program and in some nations, undernutrition affects almost half of the kids. 

• Further weakened by starvation, children will fail to grow normally and they 

will be more susceptible to diseases. Mosquito-borne illnesses such as 

malaria, dengue, and viral encephalitis will become even greater problems. 

Some predict that almost half of the world's inhabitants, including those 

along the Gulf Coast and Southern US will be at risk for dengue by 2085. 

• Water-borne diarrheal illness such as cholera will pose additional risks in 

flooded areas. 

• Storms, such as Superstorm Sandy and other forms of more localized severe 

weather will become more common damaging property and killing and 

injuring those unable to flee. 

• Sea levels will continue to rise due to thermal expansion of the oceans and 

melting ice. Inhabitants of major river deltas will become environmental 

refugees due to flooding. Rising oceans, combined with storm surges, 

already threaten areas that were previously safe. 

• Unstoppable, a term recently applied to melting Antarctic ice will apply to 

other threats. 

PSR strongly supports EPA's mission to protect human health and the 

environment. We appreciate the enormous health benefits that have been the result 

of the Clean Air Act. 

It is past time to expand these benefits by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from 

new power plants and to move on to the greater and more important tasks of 

reducing these emissions from existing sources, encouraging energy efficiency, 

and expanding our inventory of renewable energy sources by working closely with 

states, public health officials, and other stakeholders. This is the only way to 

slow, stop, and reverse the public health threats posed by global warming. The 

time for waiting has passed. We urge the EPA finalize the proposed to limit carbon 

emissions as soon as possible and then move on to additional protections needed 

to curb methane and other greenhouse gas emissions. As the world's most 

advanced nation, we owe this to our children, grand children, and generations to 

come.